12 again?
by Meatbun Attack
Summary: I thought I was just a completely normal girl, having a normal family with normal friends and a normal fanfic addiction, but I wasn't. Because apparently I was able to create alchemy when I was 3 years old. And now Truth want to know what I can do with it... But why take my age as toll? An OC story. (Non Mary Sue, more angst in later chapters)
1. Why did I die

Hi everyone~! I've created a new fanfiction, yay! ^^ I had this awesome idea and i just had to write it, i hope you like it!

Enjoy my new story~! ^^

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or FMAB!**

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><p>I'm falling. No one knows what happened or why, but we will all die, that's for sure. I was just going to visit my cousin, and then this happens. Is this how everything will end? Will I just die like this, before my life has even begun? I have just turned 16, damn it!<p>

All the people around me are screaming, but I can't hear them over my own screams and heartbeats. I crawl up in a foetal position in my seat, clenching my backpack hard to my chest. Tears stream down my face in fear. The mountain is coming closer and closer. In a few seconds, my life will end. Time appears to slow down as the plane connects with the mountain; fire is spreading through the plane and is approaching me at an almost sluggish pace, as if knowing that I can't get away, no matter how slow it moves, so it takes its time to mock me.

I stare at the fire in horror; this is how it all will end.

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><p>I'm on my way home from school, listening to my I<strong>-<strong>pod and walking to the beat. My summer vacation began today and soon I will catch a plane that will bring me to meet my cousin Raven. I miss her a lot, she's like a sister to me.

We met the first time when I was 6 years old, on a Christmas party. Both of us have an anime fetish but I have also a fan fiction fetish while she has manga fetish. I give her tips on different fan fictions while she gives me tips on different manga series. We have different favourites but we can always talk about the other series and if one of us forgets something the other one always knows the answer. Both of us wish that we could join the world of anime just like in the fan fictions**; **the only difference between us here is that Raven wants to go into the Naruto world while I want to go into the Fullmetal Alchemist world.

Whenever we have a vacation we always visit each other; this time it's my turn to visit her. I have everything packed already **– **all I have to do now is to be on time for my flight. I will stay at Raven's house for four weeks before my family comes to California themselves so that we can go on our family vacation together. I don't have any siblings, just my mother, father and our cat Malice.

You think it's strange that I call my cat Malice? Actually, it's not strange at all** – **I'm telling you, that cat's evil. She always does this creepy cat**-**snigger when she sees blood, hurt us or sees us get hurt. And since I haven't met any other cat that seems like it enjoys someone else's pain, it can't be normal, so I call her Malice. I don't care if we named her 'Bubbles' for her fluffy white fur, for me she is Malice.

My black backpack is bouncing up and down on my back as I skip down the street towards my block. I wear a pink tank top with a cute black cat on the front and short blue shorts with black, low heeled studded boots. I wear my orange hair in two high ponytails which reaches down to my shoulders; my grey eyes are closed for now since I'm enjoying the music. I'm listening to the opening of soul eater; seriously, that anime has kick**-**ass music. I have my usual fishnet gloves on, as well as my necklace with a blue oval that I got from Raven 6 years ago on my 10th birthday.

I skip inside the blue villa I call home and shout; "I'm home!"

A brown**-**haired woman with grey eyes pops her head out from the kitchen to greet me. She smiles warmly at my happy mood. "Welcome home Gloria, did you have a nice last day at school?"

I nod rapidly and pump my fist into the air. "Finally summer break! And soon I'll meet Raven which will make this day even better!" My mother laughs softly before she disappears back inside the kitchen. I remove my boots and drop my bag to the floor in the small blue hall.

"Is dad home yet?" I ask my mother as I step inside the kitchen. My mother is a great cook and she even owned a restaurant before she got married, but it had to shut down for the lack of customers. She has taught me all different kinds of tricks in cooking, some of them being special secret family recipes, of course.

Without turning around from hacking vegetables my mother answers my question. "Not yet, but he should be here any minute. And dinner will be ready soon, so don't get stuck by your computer for too long like last time."

I laugh nervously and scratch the back of my head before I run upstairs to my room. I always have the habit of shutting out everything around me when I read something that interests me, like fan fictions. I read at least one fan fiction every day; it has completely taken over my mind. I think about different fan fictions all day and come up with new fan fictions all the time. Whenever I have some alone time I always read fan fictions no matter where I am. It can even be in the middle of a conversation with my friends. (Yes, it's true!)

When I come inside my room I immediately attack my laptop and do my usual routine. I turn on my computer, log in, look at my different anime posters on the wall opposite to my computer desk, check my e-mail, reply to some e-mails, check if the manga I'm reading have updated, read the manga, check if any of the fan fictions I'm reading have updated, read the fan fictions.

All that takes me about 20 minutes, and then I decide to burst my beloved bubble to listen if my dad has come home yet. I can hear mom and dad talk downstairs so I set my computer on standby to go downstairs.

Just as I reach the bottom of the stairs, I can see my dad walk out from the kitchen. I smile as I walk past him. "Hi dad!" He turns around from hanging up his brown coat to smile back at me.

"Hi there, sweetheart. Excited about flying to Raven?" I reply with an affirmative"Mmmhmm!" and walk into the kitchen. My mother is still cooking so I decide to help a bit by doing the table. I take a deep breath of the familiar and delicious aroma wafting up from the food; it's my mother's speciality. I don't know what it's called, but it's really good.

"I can't wait to get to California!" I shout and pump my fist into the air. My mom laugh at my enthusiasm and my father smiles warmly at me.

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><p>"Bye mom! Bye dad! See you in four weeks!" I yell at my parents over my shoulder as I rush to catch my plane. "Remember to call when you've arrived!" My mother yells after me; I just wave one more time over my shoulder to ensure them that I will. As I do, I get this strange feeling that I will never be able to see them again… nah, it's surely just the work of my traveling nerves and an overactive imagination.<p>

"_I can't wait to see you Gloria! It has been two months the last time we saw each other!_" I giggle together with my cousin in excitement. I'm currently sitting on my plane, talking to my cousin one last time over the phone before the three hour trip to California. "Yeah, I know! I can't wait to show you all the awesome Naruto and Inuyasha fan fictions I've just found, they're simply amazing!"

Raven laugh softly over my fetish before she becomes serious. "_You better not crash on your way here; I don't want to lose my little sister._" Raven has always been wary of airplanes, she always has this feeling that something bad will happen to my plane so that I will crash. She isn't worried when she flies but if it's about me she tends to be a bit overprotective. One time, when she saw some of the boys from my class flirting with me, she kicked their asses all the way to the moon, ok, not literally but she beat them up pretty badly. She has black belt in karate and she has taught me some moves too, so that I will be able to protect myself. She is a very strict teacher and sometimes a little scary, but not as scary as Izumi in Fullmetal alchemist.

I brush away her worry with a laugh. "Come on, I've been flying airplanes alone since I was 12. It's not like the plane will magically stop or something, that's like one on a thousand."

I can hear her shuffling nervously on the other end and laugh nervously. "_I know, but I have this feeling that something bad will happen to you…_" Raven is always right when it comes to stuff like this, but again I just waved those thoughts away, thinking that this flight will be just like every other.

"I will see you later Raven, the plane is starting now, so I better turn off my phone before anyone becomes angry." She doesn't reply at first but then she says in a worried tone; "_Alright, but promise me- click_" I blink in surprise. Did her phone get cut off in the middle of a sentence? She always loads her phone whenever she gets red batteries so that she can keep it on 24/7.

"Raven? Hello?" I say to the quiet phone, but I don't get an answer. However, it wasn't quiet for long before I hear a new voice.

"_**Why don't you come and pay me a visit, little girl?**_"

I almost dropped the phone in surprise. The voice both sounds like one person talking and a crowd speaking at the same time. The first comparison my brain makes is one to 'Truth' in Fullmetal Alchemist. Before I can utter a single word in reply, one of the stewardesses comes to me and tells me to turn off my phone. I just stare out the window in confusion and fear as the plane begins to move. Could it really have been Truth that talked to me and told me to come to him? But the only way to get to him is if you use human transmutation, or if you die.

_If you die…_ _does that mean that this will be my last flight?_ Then I shook off my silly thoughts. That was in the Fullmetal Alchemist world. Truth didn't exist in this world. Someone had only been using some kind of voice distorter to scare me. _But why would anyone want to scare me?_

During the whole flight I feel slightly uncomfortable and keep telling myself that I just imagined that there was a voice sounding like Truth's voice coming out of my phone. I mean, Truth isn't even real. And even if he was real, what would he want from someone like me? I look out the window as I'm thinking, watching the sun set behind the clouds in the distance. And if he was real, he would still be in another dimension, right? From there, he wouldn't be able to do anything to me… I think…

Catching sight of something out of the corner of my eye, I look toward the engine, and my eyes widen in fear as they meet a horrible sight. The engine is slowing down, causing the plane to loose speed and altitude. I press myself against the window, as if I can keep the engine spinning just by being as close to it as possible and keep staring at it.

The pilot begins speaking into the loud speaker, his voice strangely calm, considering the situation. "_We're having a slight problem with our engines, everyone please stay calm and fasten your seatbelts as we try to rectify the problem._"

At the moment, I couldn't care less about seatbelts. I can't take my eyes off the engine. Something is out there, preventing it from turning. I can see it, but I can't understand what it is. It looks like an eye, an eye with two arms. It is inside the engine, holding the propeller still and looking at me joyfully. Then I freeze in fear. No way! No way! He isn't real, Truth isn't real, so how can the gate babies be real? Why is one of them here? Why is it making the plane crash? Wait, the pilot said that we were having a problem with our engines. Engines in plural form. Does that mean that there is another one in the other engine? Why are they doing this? What do they want?

I stumble to my feet and run over to the other side to look at the other engine. I lean over two crying kids to be able to reach the window. I begin to tremble as I see another gate baby. It too is looking very happy as it meets my eyes, as if it is taunting me, telling me that trying to stop them is useless. I will die, as well as all the others on this plane. But why crash a plane? And why do I seem to be the only one who can see them?

I slowly step back to my seat and sit down. I fasten my seatbelt, pick up my backpack and hug it tightly. The plane is slowly tipping downwards and I start to cry. Am I really going to die here? I still have so much to do! I want to see my cousin, my mom, my dad, and my friends at school.

All the other passengers begin to scream loudly when the plane starts to fall, especially the little kids. I try to think of itas a rollercoaster, but it's kind of hard to do that with everyone else screaming in panic. I soon join my own voice to the screams. The plane is falling faster and faster and I close my eyes tightly. I know that all around me, people are screaming, but I can't hear them over my own screams and heartbeats.

The whole plane shakes violently and lets out a screeching sound as it hits something and my forehead collides with the seat in front of me. I hold onto my bleeding head and crawl up into a foetal position. I'm so scared; I've never been this scared in my entire life. I have been scared before, like when some drunken guys cornered me in an ally. But I could do something about it then (I beat them up with some difficulty). Right now I can't do anything; the gate's babies are making the plane crash. They want to kill me and all these other innocent people.

I slowly open my eyes and look outside the window. We are in the mountains and the wing is broken. It must have been the wing colliding with the mountainside that caused the plane to shake; the screeching sound must have been the sound of metal ripping. The mountains are dangerously close to the plane as it continues to fall. Then I feel us colliding with something again, but this time the plane stops falling and I can feel a vicious heat approaching me. I turn around towards it, only to see fire quickly spreading through the plane.

My teary eyes widen even more, if possible, and I tremble hard in fear. This is how it all will end.

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><p>Am… am I dead? I think so, because I don't feel pain anymore. And if I was still alive, I should feel pain. The plane was crashing. The last thing I can remember is the fire coming towards me and then… nothing. The strange thing is;I don't feel dead. But on the other hand, I don't feel alive either. Where am I?<p>

"**Yo, so you're finally awake.**" I snap my eyes open at the familiar voice. I've heard it many times in the anime and one time over my phone, even if I didn't believe it then, but hearing it in person is a little strange. I sit up, seeing the familiar white void around me. In front of me sits the contour of a person, the contour of me. The only visible thing on its face is a big grin; Truth sits casually with one knee up to its chest with its arms resting on it.

It's Truth. That meant that it really had been Truth that I had talked to before. But why does it want me?

I take a shaky breath to calm myself before I begin to speak. "What do you want Truth?" I'm surprised; my voice manages to be very calm despite my wildly beating heart.

Truth's grin widens. "**Isn't it obvious what I want? I want you.**" I wrap my arms tightly around me. "I already know that from your call. But just what do you want me for?" I am scared, terrified, which seems to amuse Truth. After all, this is what I've dreamed for, but I didn't think that it could actually happen.

Truth shrugs its shoulders with that stupid grin still on its face. "**My, my, straight forward as ever I see.**" I wince. Truth sounds like they has known me for a long time, but how could that be possible? We live in different worlds. My voice is a little shaky as I ask Truth; "Have you been spying on me? What for?"

"**I'm interested in your abilities.**"

"I don't have any abilities." Truth begins to snicker, as if amused at something.

"**So you don't know, then? You don't know that you are the first human ever on your side to use alchemy?**" My eyes widen in surprise and shock, and my arms drop down into my lap. Alchemy? I've used alchemy? When did I do that? How?

"**But you wouldn't remember that, since you were only three years at the time. Anyway, it seems like you have a very strong connection to the gate and I want to find out why.**"

I'm dumbstruck from the news that I have used alchemy. It can't be possible. Alchemy isn't supposed to exist in my world. And when I was only three years old? That's just so confusing, how could a three-year-old kid use alchemy?

I can feel an familiar heat in my chest and I clench my hands. Is that the only reason Truth killed me? Because they want to do some kind of test on me? Then why did Truth have to crash a whole plane? Why did all those innocent people have to die? They had lives before I stepped on the same plane as them; they had a future. For that matter, I had a life before Truth contacted me. I had family and friends and now I will never be able to see them again. And Raven; she is waiting for me in California and I couldn't even say goodbye to her on the phone.

I shift a little so that I'm sitting on my knees. I hide my eyes behind my orange bangs and clench my teeth to try and force down my anger. It's mixed in with despair so I feel a little different from what I usually do when I lose my temper. It feels like my ribcage will explode every time I breathe, my heartbeat is loud and fast in my ears, I have tunnel vision, I'm shaking violently and I can't seem to focus my eyes on anything. It's just... How can Truth be so heartless!?

I want to hurt Truth but I know what they can do so I'm afraid of them, I want to hurt myself but I'm too much of a chicken to do so. I want to hurt _something_, anything, but there's nothing here. So I remain still. It takes me a couple of minutes before I have calmed down enough to be able to move.

I slowly lift my head so that I can look past the orange curtain of hair, at Truth, but it isn't in front of me any more. I almost let the feelings of anger and despair take over me again, but I slap myself in the face to be able to calm down. I stand up with the help from my hands and slowly turn around to look behind me. It's just as I feared, there stands Truth with the gate behind them.

My heart begins to beat faster as I realise what it will do; Truth will force me through the gate. I don't want this anymore, I just want to go home and meet my mom and dad again. The colour drains from my face and I shake my head, I don't want to be here.

"S-so you will force me through the gate? Make m-me learn alchemy so that you c-can figure out why I have such an s-strong c-connection? Is this why y-you k-killed me?" I'm slowly stepping away from the gate, holding myself protectively. I wanted my voice to sound strong but I'm too scared to use my acting skills, so my voice just sounds small and pathetic, reflecting my feelings.

Instead of Truth answering me, the gate opens and the black arms of the gate babies reach out for me. I can't move and I know that no matter what I do, they will catch me anyway, so the only thing I can do is watch in horror as the black arms approach.

The arms are wrapping themselves around my legs, arms, waist, head, _everywhere_, before they pull me inside the gate with a powerful tug and the doors close loudly behind me.

All the information poured into my brain hurts; it feels like my head will blow up. Pictures of my life and pictures of alchemy flashes by me in mere seconds, but somehow my brain captures everything. One of the most shocking pictures that I see is the one where I do alchemy. It's only there for the merest fraction of a second, but I can still see it clearly, in detail.

I'm playing outside. It's raining, and I'm happily jumping around in the water puddles. Without anyone realizing it, I jump out into the road, not knowing the dangers of it, and continue to play with the water. I hear tires racing towards me at a high speed and I look over to the source of the sound in confusion. A car is driving at full speed through the rain, oblivious to the little child playing on the road. I can hear my mother scream my name before I instinctively clap my hands together and hold them in front of me. The rain around me stops and gathers around me like a protecting bubble, so when the car collides with me I bounce away like a bouncing ball, safe inside the water bubble. Then the memory gets replaced by another one, the gate not letting me dwell on one thing for too long.

Finally the gate lets me go and closes its doors behind me. I'm back inside the white void together with Truth. I pant heavily from exhaustion and my head is throbbing violently. I can't believe that my head is still intact after that, it was horrible. And to think that Ed and Al went through this at the age of 11 and 10, respectively, amazes me.

"**Do you see why I'm interested in your alchemy powers now? I've never seen anyone control water that way before, and it was a powerful transmution, too. All that, and you weren't even in this dimension, the dimension that is supposed to have alchemy, at the time.**"

I slowly move my gaze to Truth, who is standing on my right with its arms crossed. I can only nod numbly. I have to agree on that that power I had used was unusual. It would be cool to be able to control that kind of alchemy, but I would much rather go home. But what if I can't go home? What if I'm really dead and I have lost my body**?** Do I need to pay a toll if I have lost my body? What would Truth take from me then?

Truth begins to circle around me as he speaks. "**Now, the only thing that's missing is someone that can teach you how to use your alchemy. There exist no alchemists in your world, that's why I had to dispose of your body. And the sacrifices are what kept your soul intact and transferred you here. You have a lot of knowledge of the living world beyond this gate, so there won't be a problem in sending you there. But the problem is that you don't have a body there and I can't send you there without a body. Your alchemy is too valuable for that.**"

Truth is now standing in front of me with a big grin on its face; I'm shaking both in fear and from exhaustion from my experience inside the gate. Sure it was amazing to be able to learn all those things about alchemy, but I was still scared.

I push some bangs out of my pale face and bite my lip nervously. "I-I don't want to l-lose a limb or any organs."

Truth grins even more and reaches out a hand to touch my cheek. I wince at their touch but otherwise I'm completely still. "**I wasn't thinking of taking any limbs or organs, I thought more about taking your age. Four years actually. I've already picked out the years that will be deleted from your mind and body.**"

I freeze and my breath hitches in my throat. What? My years? Is that even possible? Will I be 12 years old again? That's better then loosing a limb or two, but I will lose four years of my life! And I won't even know what has been taken from me, since I won't have any memory of it! I can't give Truth a reply, I'm too afraid to speak, or even move. The only thing I can do is to stare at what is supposed to be Truths face in shock and disbelief.

Truth nods and removes its hand from my cheek; I can hear the gates doors open behind me. The black arms once again wrap themselves around me, but this time I put up a fight. I don't want to go there anymore; I don't want to lose four years of my life. Maybe those years have important memories of my family, or important things I've learned.

No matter how much I fight, the arms are pulling me closer and closer to the gate. The last thing I see is Truth waving happily at me before the gate doors close and leave me in darkness.

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><p>Every part of my body is burning, like someone has set me fire on my insides. I'm dizzy, hungry, thirsty, and sleepy and I need to pee… Not a good combination… I slowly open my grey eyes and am met by the sight of concrete. I must have fallen from somewhere; my whole body hurts like hell, especially my head after all that information from the gate.<p>

I groan softly and push myself up to my knees, sending a wave of pain crashing over my body. But I know that I can't stay here, I have to find someone.

I look at my surroundings; I'm in a dark alley. In front of me is a dead end and behind me lies a big street. There are a few trash cans to my right where a cat is digging through the garbage in search of food and the sky is dark with heavy rain clouds; I must get cover before the rain starts falling.

As I stumble upright on my unsteady feet I can feel something slip off my legs and fall to the ground. I blink a few times in confusion before I look down to my feet groggily. It's something light blue attached to my legs… Wait a minute… It's my pants!

I quickly pull upmy pants into place with a heavy blush; I just dropped my pants, something that has never happened before. I look down at my cat tank top, it's reaching down to my thighs and my smaller hands don't fit in my fishnet gloves anymore.

I panic for a few more minutes before it finally dawns on me. Truth has stolen four years from me both physically and from my memories. Which means that I'm 12 again…

I sigh, depressed, as I remove my favourite gloves; I have to go through puberty all over again… How annoying…

Since my pants can't keep themselves in place, I have to make my gloves into a temporary belt until I can find someone willing togive me some clothes. I mean, who can resist a cute little orange-haired girl with big, grey, sparkling eyes?

I tie my gloves together and tie them around my waist over my blue pants. My cute kitty shirt must look weird in this world, so I have to turn it inside out. My bra is too large for me with my new (or old?) bust size. I remember that I had a 36 B cup when I was 12, while now, at 16, I have a 38 F cup… well, had, until Truth shrank me. Now that I have a much smaller body, it feels a little strange to walk towards a garbage can to throw away my bra. I only grew about 4 inches between 12 and 16, so it isn't so much of a difference, but still enough to send me off balance.

I steady myself against the wall after I have thrown my bra away. What now? Should I just wander around the city until I find someone and then use my acting skills to act like a little helpless kid? That is a plan, at least… But I should also try to find Ed and Al. I know where I am and by now, I have accepted that all of this is real, so that means that they are real, too.

I bend down and tighten the straps on my studded boots before I slowly walk out from the ally and out onto the big street, but no one is out at this hour. I should probably find some shelter for the night and then find someone the next morning. With that in mind, I begin to walk in a random direction, keeping close to the wall.

During my walk I come up with a background for myself. If a little 12 year old girl walk alone in a big city there must be a reason, right? I will say that my father left me long time ago and that I've been looking for him since my mother died. She died in cancer when I was 10 and I've travelled through different towns since then. I've stayed at different families and gotten food and shelter from them but I lost all my stuff recently when I was running away from a scary man. That sounds convincing, right? But I've planned that if I meet Ed and Al, I will slowly uncover my secret; give a few hints here and there. Ed is very smart so I think he'll figure it out eventually.

It began to rain a while ago, so I'm soaking wet. As I'm walking, I'm slowly getting used to my smaller body and now I don't have to steady myself against the wall anymore.

Suddenly a large bang is heard just a few blocks away from me; a huge cloud of dust that's slowly disintegrating is hovering over the houses. What's that? Is someone fighting over there? The place seems familiar somehow… Can it be Scar or Homunculi?

I pick up my pace and walk towards the ally, if it is Scar that means that Ed and Al are there too. I hope that I'm right… They are the only ones I feel that I can trust in this world amongst other few selected people who help the brothers.

I can hear sounds of a fight and see red and blue alchemy flashes coming out from the ally I'm heading towards. I can't help them in the fight, but even so, I want to see it up close. I know that this is real life now, not just a manga or an anime, and that I can get hurt, but I'm still excited, I love to fight and watch people fight.

When I see something red and golden fall out of the ally, a wide grin spreads across my face. It is Ed, which means I'm almost in the beginning of the series. Judging by the red flashes of light I can come to the conclusion that he and Al are fighting Scar. If I remember right, it should be in chapter 7… I wonder if it is the anime or manga, I hope it's the manga because I remember it better than the anime. But Brotherhood would be good too, it is somewhat similar to the manga and I remember every event and when it happens.

I slow down a little so that I can watch the fight from a safe distance. I will see Ed fight with Scar! It's like a dream come true! If only Raven could see me now…

Some tears threaten to spill over as I think of Raven and home. I slap myself lightly and force the tears down. I can't get homesick now. I'll have to save that for later. Right now I will watch Ed fight and then jump in and announce my presence after the military comes to save him.

Ed throws off his red coat, claps his hands and transmutes his auto**-**mail. I stare in awe at the blue sparkles, it's so pretty. That can be a reason for a naïve 12**-**year**-**old to come out of hiding, so I do just that and slowly start walking toward Ed with eyes big with awe. Now it's time to put my acting classes into use and play an innocent little girl who wants to be brave.

Ed lunges forward with a cry and his auto**-**mail ready to strike. I stop momentarily to stare at him and Scar in confusion. If Al can see me from here I have to make my act convincing even now. When the red sparks of Scar's alchemy light up Ed's metal arm, I plaster a big excited smile on my face. When the arm breaks into tiny peaces I change my expression to one of horror and that isn't acting.

Ed is holding his shoulder where the auto-mail is supposed to be and falls to his hand and knees.

"Brother!" I look inside the ally to see a broken Al lie on the ground, staring at his older brother in worry. I let Ed and Scar make the deal about Scar not killing his little brother. Al screams at Scar to stop when he reaches out to kill Ed. I look to the opposite side of the road, but no one's there. But the military is supposed to come to his rescue! Where are they?

I clench my hands with a determined expression, if the military isn't here yet I'll have to be the one to save him from death. I run towards Scar silently and just as he is about to place his hand on Edward's head I throw a kick into his side, hitting him with a surprising amount of power for my small body, sending him skidding away a few steps. I point an accusing finger at him with puffed out cheeks in anger.

"You shouldn't hurt people! It's bad, you even destroyed his arm and that's even worse! You should be ashamed of yourself for hurting someone. I don't know what you were about to do but I know it would have been bad, too, if I hadn't stopped you. So go!"

A stunned silence spreads after my little 'speech' but Ed soon recovers.

"What the hell are you doing! Get out of here, it's dangerous!" I look at him in surprise before my determined expression comes back on. I stomp my foot stubbornly into the ground and cross my arms over my chest.

"No! I want to help people; I can't just run away knowing that I can help someone! That's my motto and I won't back away from it!" Just when he is about to reply a loud gunshot is heard. All of us turn towards Colonel Mustang, the flame alchemist, where he stands in the middle of the street with a pistol in his hand. Hawkeye and Havoc are standing behind him with guns in their hands.

"That's as far as you go."

My eyes light up in relief, _finally_ the military are here. I thought they would never come. And this means that Armstrong will soon appear and fight Scar, I will be able to see an epic fight, after all! I clap my hands in happiness, wave goodbye to Edward and run into the ally where Al is lying. I don't have a death wish, so I will not interfere with Armstrong's fight; he has the habit of destroying everything around him when he fights.

I already know what they are talking about, so I zone out a bit as I sit cross**-**legged and lean against the wall. What would have happened if I hadn't interfered with Ed and Scar's fight? Would Ed just have died? Al would never have been able to live with the guilt of his brother dying to save him. I shouldn't even be in this world, but it might be a good thing that Truth has forced this upon me**. **If they hadn't, Ed would probably have died. That does not mean that I'm about to forgive Truth. What it did is inexcusable and if Ed and Al find the philosopher's stone and I can somehow find a way to use it to open the gate to my world, I wouldn't have a body to go back to. I would just be a wandering soul, unable to do anything. And since it's like that, I might as well make myself useful in this world.

I can hinder some things from happening; I can't hinder Hughes death that would change too much. But I can hinder Ed from hurting himself at a regular basis and I can still use my karate skills, so I can be of some help to them. And if I learn how to use this alchemy of mine I can help them even more. But what if I coming here would change the series? But, wait. Now that I've saved Ed, have I changed the series already? I hope not…That would be bad, because that would mean that I can't use my knowledge to their advantage. Or could I? I do know a lot of things about the homunculi and the philosopher's stone. And I do know about the future in this world if everything goes as it should… I remember almost everything that is going to happen. I'm glad that Raven introduced me to Fullmetal Alchemist.

I look down at the ground hide my teary eyes behind my bangs. Now that I've saved Edward from death I can finally let out my feelings. It's raining so no one will be able to see my tears. I smile bitterly and let my tears roll down my cheeks; I will never be able to see my big sister again… I won't be able to joke around with my friends, I won't be able to bake my birthday cake with my mother, I won't be able to talk with my father about jobs and schoolwork… But the thing I will miss the most is being together with Raven. We where able to read each other's thoughts and we could trust each other with anything. When she has boy problems she can talk to me, when I have problems about… well, anything, I can talk to her. She was someone I could lean on and vice versa, like two cards leaning against each other in a card house. If one card was removed, the opposite card would fall. So now that I've died in my world, will Raven fall? Now that Raven isn't here beside me, will I fall? I can't find an answer to those questions, but knowing Raven, she will pick herself up and be able to stand on her own. She is a much stronger person than I am, both physically and mentally. But what about my mom and dad? Will they be alright? I am their only child and now that I'm gone and can never come back to their side, will they hate themselves for letting me fly on my own? If I only had known that this would happen, then I could have hugged them goodbye instead of just waving over my shoulder. And how would my friends take my death? Would they cry over me? Would they miss my happy mood and failed attempts to make jokes? Would they miss my clumsiness? I miss my friends, yes, but not like I miss someone that is important to me, I just miss them for their company. It wouldn't be that hard to fill that void with someone else. But on the other hand, I don't think that they are dead, which is what they will think of me.

I wipe my eyes and stand up slowly; I don't want anyone to see me like this. I'm on my way out from the alley when a voice stops me.

"Wait, where are you going?" I stop in the opening and look over my shoulder towards Al; he is still lying on the ground and his glowing red "eyes" are looking at me. I smile bitterly. The one place I really feel like can go is Ed and Al's side, but here I am, running away from it. I'm really fucked up right now, with my feelings being the way they are and everything is still very confusing, even though I've accepted that I won't be able to go back to my world.

I shake my head furiously, the tips of my wet orange ponytails slapping my face, and run away from the ally.

"Wait!" Al calls after me, but I ignore it and keep on running. I can hear large booms from the battle between Scar and Armstrong, but I don't want to watch it anymore. I just want to curl up into a ball and cry my eyes out in despair and anger. I will never be able to see my family again and it's all Truth's fault, no not Truth's it's my alchemy powers' fault. If I didn't have my alchemy Truth would never have become interested in me, and if it hadn't become interested in me, then they wouldn't have sent me here. If I didn't have my alchemy I could be laughing together with Raven right now. If I didn't have my alchemy I would still be 16 years old!

I trip over my own feet and slide across the ground, scraping my right side in the process. I'm cold, hungry, thirsty, and tired and I just want all of this to be a dream. If this was a dream, than it was a really strange one; a good one and a nightmare at the same time. I mean, I've always wanted to come here, but I never knew that I would be this homesick. And I never thought that it would involve dying.

I can still hear the sounds of fighting in the distance, but I don't have the power to move anymore. It's like my thoughts have drained me of all my energy.

I turn around so that I'm lying on my back, staring up into the rain. The raindrops are like piercing needles when they land on my eyes and that annoys me. Instinctively, I clap my hands together and imagine a bubble over my eyes before my inner eye. Then I hold my glowing hands up over my face and watch as the raindrops start to move together to make a floating bubble of water around me. I just stare at the dark sky through my translucent shelter for a while before I slowly close my eyes. A little nap can't hurt, and I need one after all the stress I've been put through today. Before I fully succumb to the darkness of sleep I hear the sound of running footsteps approaching.

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><p>What do you think of my story? Good? Bad? Review! ^^ If enough people like this story, I will continue to write on it. Although, I will update all of my stories a little slower then since I will have two stories at the same time. ^^" See you soon~! And review if you want to read more!<p> 


	2. The first day in a new world

Hi everyone! I'm back~! ^^

I really enjoy writing this story, so I'm now giving you the next chapter! Even though not many people have reviewed, more people have added my story as one of their favorites or story alert. I'm so happy~! I really love when people like my story~!^^

Thank you SeaDevil and LeFay strent for reviewing! Thank you Daninuyasha and Animanga-smile14 for adding this story as your favorite! And thank you Okami-G and Hitsugaya Aiko for adding my story as a story alert! ;)

Enjoy~! ~^o^~

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><p>I wake up to the smell of chemicals and voices speaking around me. Voices who sound awfully familiar… I slowly open my eyes and look up into a white ceiling. Am I in a hospital?<p>

"Look brother! She's awake!" I blink a few more times before I groggily sit up and rub my eyes tiredly. I know that voice, but where have I heard it before? It sounds kind of like an echo…

I look to my right to see who it was that was talking, only to be scared to death by something golden suddenly popping up in front of me. I shriek and fall out from the hospital bed in surprise, the fall wasn't very high but it hurts when you land on a side that's already bruised.

"Hey, are you alright?" I can hear the boy who scared me ask in worry as I curl up into a ball, whimpering in pain. I snap my eyes open and glare heatedly at the golden-haired boy leaning over the hospital bed that I was resting in before he showed up. I immediately stand up, ignoring the confusion of seeing Edward Elric, and point an accusing finger at him. Silently wondering why a fictional character is even here.

"Don't pop out in front of people's faces like that! You almost scared me to death!" Edward holds up his hand as a weak defence and takes a step back from me. "Ehm… sorry?" He replies awkwardly and glances down to the broken suit of armour on the floor for help. It just shrugs its shoulder as reply.

Wait, not it, him. Al is a person and should be treated as such. I nod in satisfaction at my decision and sit down cross-legged on my bed; I look between the two Elric brothers and then at Armstrong who I hadn't noticed was in the room.

"So what do you want? You have obviously waited for me to wake up and tell me something." I ask them straight forward and hide a yawn behind my hand. I still have no idea what's going on, but I have a feeling that I can't let my confusion show. For some reason, three fictional characters are standing in the same room as me and they seem very real. I've just woken up so my memory should catch up with me soon, so until I remember I just have to act like I know what's going on.

The younger Elric nudges his brother and gives him a do**-**it look. Ed sighs and scratches the back of his head before he looks at me in the eye. "Thanks for before I guess." I blink in confusion and tilt my head a little bit to the side. "For what?" I ask him. That's when my memory catches up to my sleepy body and I snap my fingers in realisation.

"Oh, that. No problem, it was my pleasure. As I said yesterday, it's my motto to help people that need it." With that I give him my brightest smile and jump up to my feet, looking around for my clothes. I spot them on a chair near my bed and pick them up; I then look back to the other three people in the room.

"Do you have any questions? Because I really don't want to stay at a hospital longer than I need to." Ed gives me an understandable look; he too hates hospitals, after all. Armstrong steps forward with pink sparkles surrounding his face.

"What's your name miss?" He asks me politely. I hold up a lazy hand in greeting and answer "Gloria Dementor, you?" I'm too tired to put up my 12 year old act right now. I just hope Armstrong won't tear off his shirt in his presentation…

Edward is the first to introduce himself and then Alphonse and then when Armstrong finally introduces himself he does it with his shirt off. I give the muscled man a dark glare, so dark that his spotlight can't shine through the darkness I emit. It's... weird to be able to see those sparkles and also see how my mood effects the area around me to grow darker. It's unfamilliar but not something I don't mind. In fact, it's really good that my mood effects the sparkles because they're hurting my eyes.

"Armstrong, with all respect, sir, avoid tearing your shirt off in front of me when I've just woken up. The sparkles makes my head hurt." Ed and Al are huddled together in fear and Armstrong swallows uncomfortably at my dark glare. I stomp off to the bathroom, mumbling dark words on my way, and slam the door shut behind me.

I quickly change into my blue shorts and pink tank top, when I'm done with setting up my hair in my normal high pigtails and have washed my face I skip out from the bathroom with a happy grin on my face. All three of them stare at me in confusion when I skip over to the hospital bed and sit down. I dangle my feet happily over the edge of the bed and ask them cheerfully:

"Do you want anything else or can I leave now?" Ed and Al exchange looks before they turn their backs to me and begins to whisper to each other.

"Brother, do you think she's bipolar?" I can hear a quiet sigh before Ed replies. "Yeah, that glare was even scarier then Winry's… And now she acts like it never happened…" Then Armstrong joins the not-so-quiet conversation. "Indeed, even I was a little bit fazed by her glare…"

An angry vein pops up on the top of my head. "You know that I can hear you…" I say with venom in my voice. All three of them turn around slowly to look at me. I have my eyes hidden behind by orange bangs and I'm shaking a little in anger. "What's wrong with being bipolar? Edward? Alphonse? Major Armstrong?"

Armstrong straightens himself and stand next to the sweating Elric brothers. Edward waves his hand back and forth, shaking his head furiously. "No, nothing's wrong with it..." His reply brings back my happy mood and I ones again smile cheerfully at them.

"Oh, that's good." Ed and Al sigh in relief as the major once again to ask me a question.

"Miss Dementor, why were you out so late in the evening? Surely your parents must be worried about you."

At the word 'family' I can feel my smile fly out the window to be replaced with a sad face. Not literally fly out the window, but you know what I mean. I become very sad over the word family.

"Yeah, and why didn't you run when I told you to?" Ed asks me with slight irritation. "You could have died."

I smile bitterly at the thought of death. "Die…" I mumble under my breath. I gaze down to my lap. "You can say that I've died already. I will help anyone I can, no matter who they are. And about my parents, I don't have any here so there is no one to worry."

They all look down at me in sympathy; before they have a chance to say anything I begin to smile once again. "But I think that my father is still alive so I'm looking for him. I found a lead on him here in East City that point toward Resembool, so I will travel there next! I don't want to live with him; I just want to know that he's alright."

They look surprised, but of course I've planned this. Now that I know where I am in the series I know that Ed and Al will go to Resembool to fix themselves up, so if I say that I will travel there too, they would want to travel with me right? I don't think that they are someone that will let a 12 year old girl go on a 15 hour trip to Resembool alone.

As I thought, Armstrong appears in front of me with tear-filled eyes and pink sparkles around him. He grabs me in a bone crushing hug, almost snapping my back in the process.

"That's so passionate of you! Searching desperately for your father because you worry about his wellbeing! You can travel with us, little girl! We are also going to Resembool!" I twitch at the word 'little' but I don't have any air in my lungs to tell him not to call me little, let alone tell him to let me go.

Luckily Al comes to my rescue. "Uhmm… Major? I think you're suffocating her…" The Major look down at my red, about to turn blue, face and lets me out ofhis death grip. I land in a heap on the floor, desperately sucking air into my lungs. I compose myself incredibly fast and hug Edward happily; afraid of getting suffocated if I hug the Major. Edward tenses when I hug him.

"Yay! I can travel together with someone! This is the first time in almost two years!" I exclaim, now that I've remembered the back ground story I came up with. Then I let go of the tense Ed and begin to dance around the room in happiness.

"Wait, two years? How old are you anyway?" I stop dancing and glance at Edwards shocked face. I turn to him fully and rock back and forward on my feet like it isn't anything important, gazing into his eyes to make sure that he can detect it if –when– I lie.

"Yeah, I've travelled around alone for two years ever since my mother died in cancer. I don't have any siblings or any relatives that can take care of me, so I've been living on my own. I took all the money we had hidden in the house, so I've been able to travel to different places by train to look for my father. I've been living with a few nice families in different towns who've given me food and shelter. These clothes that I have on me now are the only clothes that I've left from home; I've lost all the others. And right now I'm… 12? Yeah, 12!"

Edward narrows his eyes at me; pretty much everything is a lie except for the clothes thing and by the looks of it, Ed has seen through my lies. Anyone that looks at me straight in the eye can see my gaze flicker a little bit every time I tell a lie, no matter how much my voice sounds like I'm telling the truth, my eyes always flicker a little bit, almost unnoticeable if you aren't looking closely.

I can see a light in the corner of my eye and I turn towards it, only to see Armstrong crying with sparkles surrounding him. "That's such a sad fate for a child…" He says and clenches his hand, once again shirtless. I laugh nervously and take a few steps away from him, just to put myself out of reach in case he decides to hug me again and then I turn to Al on the ground.

"When are you three leaving?" I ask him politely. Al stops staring at Armstrong, who is still crying over my little story, to look up at me.

"We are leaving today actually; we just wanted to thank you before we leave." I give him a bright smile at his reply, he's so kind. He really deserves to have his body back.

I hug him tightly before I let him go, I giggle a little at his confused expression. "Now I've hugged everybody!" I exclaim in happiness, jumping up and down. It's really fun to act like a 12 year old; I should do it more often.

I stop jumping and hold a hand over my aching stomach and as if on cue it growls very loudly. Not like a small little sound that can easily be heard when everything is quiet, but a really large growl that can be heard over someone else's conversation. I rub the back of my head with an embarrassed blush covering my cheeks and look down on the floor.

"Now I remember how hungry I am… sorry about that…"

Lucky for me that after my stomach growled, Edward's did too. Or else I wouldn't have gotten any food…

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><p>I'm now sitting on the train to Resembool, next to Ed who is sitting by the window and with Armstrong sitting in the seat in front of us. Sadly, Al isn't with us, since the major made him luggage instead. Poor Al, he deserves better.<p>

Someone knocks on the window of the train and all of us turn to see who it is. There stands Lieutenant colonel Hughes with a hand raised in greeting. "Yo!" He says and I wave enthusiastically while Ed replies with a surprised "Lieutenant colonel Hughes!" The colonel gives me a quick glance, but then turns his attention to Ed.

"The guys from HQ were too busy to drop by, so they sent me here instead. And I've brought a message from Roy." Edward looks confused at the mention of a message from Roy, while I play confused by the whole situation. What can I say, I'm a good actor.

Then Hughes relays the message to Edward. "'Post processing is a bit of a pain, so I will not permit you to die within my jurisdiction', that's all."

A few angry veins appear on Edwards head, it's still so strange yet cool that I can actually see them, as he gives his own message to Roy. "Tell him I said, 'Roger that, I will not die before you do, colonel shit.'"

Hughes bursts out laughing at Edward's message. "Ahahaha! Wicked brats are aplenty in the world! You and that bastard Roy ought to have long lives!" Then he turns to me with a teasing grin. I just tilt my head to the side and make a cute-looking confused face. Then Hughes leans closer, eyeing Edward with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I didn't know that you had a girlfriend Ed and quite the cute one at that." He says teasingly, at which I give him a look that clearly says 'what the hell are you talking about' and lean closer to Hughes, which automatically brings me closer to Edward, since he is sitting between me and the window.

"No sir, it was only a coincidence that we are taking the same train. I met him only yesterday when I saved him from Scar, so since we are going to the same place we travel together for the time being." I tell him with a finger raised and a matter-of-fact tone in my voice. Hughes looks surprised at first but then his features soften and he pats the top of my head through the open window.

I blink in confusion at his grinning face when he says. "I was just teasing kid, no hard feelings." I make an 'oh' face and nods my head rapidly in reply. "And by the way, my name is Gloria Dementor. It's nice to meet you, Colonel Hughes." Hughes gives me a toothy grin and replies. "It's nice to meet you too Gloria."

He removes his hand from my head and I sit back in my seat just as the train whistle announces that it's time to leave and Hughes salute to Ed an Armstrong.

"Well then, be careful on your journey! If you pop by Central, give a holler." Ed and Armstrong salute back; I watch them confused at first before I salute myself, but with the wrong hand on purpose. Hughes smile warmly at me and then motions to his right hand. I look at my own hand and as if I've realized my mistake, I quickly change hand with an embarrassed smile.

When Armstrong and Edward begins to talk about Resembool and his auto mail mechanic I tell him that I've always been interested in auto mail and how it's made. It takes me a few minutes of begging and my puppy-dog eyes of doom. This time I don't have to act to get my role as a 12 year old right; if I beg for something I really want, I always act like an annoying little kid. So as you may have guessed, he finally agrees to let me meet Winry. I do a small happy dance at my success.

Edward asks Armstrong if he put Al on this train and when he finds out that his little brother is travelling with sheep he explodes. I laugh loudly at his angry expression, which makes Edward become even angrier and shouts at me to shut up, which make me laugh so hard that I fall out from my seat.

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><p>We have been travelling for a while and the train has just stopped in a little town, so we are currently waiting for the train to start moving again. I yawn loudly and rub my eyes; travelling on a train for a long time is tiring. Armstrong is reading a book and Edward is just as bored as I am, leaning against the window of the train.<p>

When Armstrong glances out the window he must have seen someone of importance since he leans out the window and shouts at the person.

"Dr. Marcoh! Are you not Dr. Marcoh! It is me, Alex Luis Armstrong from central!" I lean up to the window just to see Marcoh run away from Armstrong like his butt is on fire. I grin mentally while I tilt my head a little bit to the side. They will now search the city for the doctor because he knows about the philosopher stone.

"You know him?" Ed asks Armstrong while turning to him. Armstrong nods in confirmation and looks down at Ed. "Yes… He is a very capable alchemist from an alchemic research agency in central. He took part in research to use alchemy for medical purposes, but disappeared after the civil war."

"Let's get off here!" Edward tells me and Armstrong before he rises from his seat and begins to run towards the door. "I have a feeling he'd know something about the transmutation of living organisms." Me and Armstrong exchange glances with each other before I jump up from my seat and run after Ed.

We have retrieved Al, who smells like sheep, from the train and are now asking around in the little town for Dr. Marcoh. Armstrong has drawn a perfect picture of him and we are showing the picture to a dark-skinned man. I praise him for his detailed picture and he boasts about his family like he usually does.

Apparently Dr. Marcoh has changes his name to Mauro (Which I already knew but couldn't tell) and came to this village after the civil war. He has helped a lot of people and heals injuries with alchemy; he never accepts payments for his treatments either.

After talking to a few citizens about Dr. Mauro we were informed of his address and we are now going there to talk to him. I skip happily between Edward and Armstrong, Al is still broken in his box (No shit Sherlock…) with Armstrong carrying him on his broad shoulders. When I see the house of the doctor I run up the stairs before them in excitement, Marcoh will hold a gun and I really want to see it up close. But in my excitement, my clumsiness increases and I trip on my way up the stone stairs. I land on my stomach and slide down all the steps that I've just passed.

Ed raises his golden eyebrows at my excitement. "Why are you so excited?" He asks me suspiciously. I just shake my head with a big grin, like I haven't just fallen down the stairs, and run up the stairs once again and step away from the door to make room for Ed and Armstrong to stand in front of the door. It's like I've seen in the anime, Ed first knocks on the door, opens it and call out a 'hello', Marcoh stands inside his house with a gun in his hand and points it at Ed's head, Ed move out of the way in panic just when Marcoh fires his gun. Does this mean that I'm in the anime?

"Why did you come here? Are you here to take me back?" Marcoh shouts at the two people from the military, not acknowledging my presence at all. Armstrong tries to calm the panicked doctor but to no avail. I silently move to Marcoh's side without any of the others noticing and stare at the pistol in awe. I've never seen this kind of pistol before; I absolutely love everything about technology which is why I grew so attached to FMA in my world. They have auto-mail! I was totally stuck with FMA the moment I saw Edwards arm! I poke the beautiful pistol and I can feel all the gazes at me now that they have noticed where I am.

"Waaah~! It's so cool~!" I say dreamily with sparkles in my eyes, I poke the pistol again. Somehow I've slipped the pistol out from Marcoh's hand and I'm now admiring the beautiful handwork. I rub the side of the pistol against my cheek and squeal in delight.

"I never thought that I would be able to see one in real life~! It's amazing what technology can do~!"

The other four people that are watching me have a moment of awkwardness while I squeal over and over again over a pistol.

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><p>Marcoh, Armstrong, Edward and Alphonse are sitting (or are placed, in Al's case) around the table. I'm sitting on a pile of boxes by the window, watching them as they converse.<p>

"I had no idea you were hiding out in the countryside under an assumed name," begins Armstrong in surprise, "I heard a rumour you took some classified documents with you when you disappeared."

"I couldn't stand it any longer," replies Marcoh in frustration, "Sure, it was an order from the superiors but because of it, I had to stain my hands by conducting research on such a thing…"

"Such a thing?" Ed repeats in confusion.

"So many innocent people died because of it in the civil war in Ishbal… I can't atone for what I've done even with my life. So I decided to become a doctor for this town because I wanted to do all I could to pay for my sins."

"Doctor, what exactly were you ordered to research?" Armstrong asks him. I shift a little bit from where I'm sitting on the crates, as I now will be able to reveal some of my knowledge so that I can make the Elrics interested and suspicious about me. If I plan things just right, Edward might want to force the truth out of me during the stay in Resembool.

Marcoh opens his eyes to stare at the table with a far**-**away look in his eyes. "The philosopher's stone." Everyone else in this room reacts with shock over the news except for me. "The things I took with me are the research data and the stone itself."

Ed rises from his chair and slams his hand into the table. "You have the stone! Here?" Without a word, Marcoh pulls out a bottle with red liquid from the inside of his coat and while he does that I jump down from my crater to walk up to the table. Just when the substance turns into something resembling a stone I speak in a serious tone before Marcoh has a chance to do so himself. Luckily I remember every single word that Marcoh said in the anime. But I will not let my gaze move from the stone while I talk, I will also use a monotone voice like I'm thinking out loud.

"The philosopher's stone, the heavenly stone, the great elixir, the red tincture, the fifth element. Those are all the different names of the stone that I've heard of. Just like how it has many different names, its shape isn't limited to that of a stone. However, they remained experimental creations up until the end. Imperfect objects that will eventually reach their limits and become unusable… It can take days or even years… But even though it's incomplete it certainly displayed its powers in the Ishbalan war… A complete stone could do wonders…" I put my hand to my chin in a thinking manner, mumbling low under my breath. "But what is the exchange for disturbing the law of alchemy? There must be something…"

Ha! I love being smart! I may only have a C in chemistry but that's just because I was lazy with the homework; I was in fact one of the best students in my class. Everyone has become quiet after my little so-called speech until Ed broke it.

"Yeah, there was a high priest in Lior who had an incomplete stone. His abilities improved and he could break the laws of alchemy." Without looking away from the stone liquid, which is now inside the bottle, I can see the grin on his face. "If something like that can be made, it's possible to perfect it if we give it more research!" He once againslams his hand into the table as he exclaims: "Dr. Marcoh, please show me the research data!"

I close my eyes and bow down my head as if in thought. "Major… Who is this boy?" Marcoh asks, baffled. "He's a state alchemist." The Major answers seriouslyand Marcoh lets out a shocked sound. "A kid like this…"

I open my eyes and narrow them into slits, like I'm thinking about something that bothers me. Actually, it isn't an act, even though it is a part of one. I'm thinking about if I've revealed too much of my knowledge or if it came out right. I want the Elrics to be suspicious enough of me to try and figure me out and in order to make them suspicious I have to act my real age. It's much easier to act like this than a cheery 12 year old but what if I have made them too suspicious over my confident speech about the stone? What if they will never confront me about it? There are a lot of flaws in my little plan, but I have no choice. It's not like in the fan fictions where a girl from our world gets to this world for some strange reason and when she tells where she comes from and all of that about another dimension, the Elric brothers immediately trust her. I don't think like that and I don't like taking risks if there is another option. Sure, it may be a lot harder, but better safe than sorry.

"I know it's stupid!" I wake up from my thinking daze with Edward's outburst. "But I'm willing to go through hell until I achieve my goal!"

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><p>I am sitting on the craters again after hearing the brothers tell about how they broke the taboo and I am once again the cheerful 12-year-oldwhen I say in a cheery voice:<p>

"Well, I knew that you broke the taboo from the first time I met you. I mean it's hard to not figure it out when a busted armour is laying in the middle of an ally." Edward narrows his eyes at me for a brief moment before he turns back to Marcoh.

Marcoh is looking down at Al in amazement. "I see… so you broke the taboo… I'm amazed. You were able to affix the soul of a human being to an armour. You might just be able to create a perfect philosopher's stone."

Edward begins to smile in hope but it's immediately crushed when Marcoh says that he can't show Edward his work. I look out the window in a small daze as I think of something that I can say that will make Ed even more suspicious. If I tell him that that research is nothing someone in our age should ever see he would pick up the clue that I know a lot about the stone.

"I've seen hell already!" Ed screams at Marcoh and it becomes quiet for a moment beforeI speak softly, with a tint of sadness.

"Edward, the philosopher's stone should not be researched by kids our age." I can feel Edwards gaze on me as I sadly stare out the window. I close my eyes, hop down from the crates and walk out of the house with my gaze on the ground. If that doesn't give him a hint, I don't know what would.

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><p>Like it? Hate it? Review! ^^ I have already written chapter 3 and 4, but I will wait for a while before I post them. So you don't have to worry, I will probably update next week or so.<p>

Se you soon~! :)


	3. Resembool

Hi everyone~! I'm back~! ^^

I hope you didn't miss me too much. ;)

And since my newest reviewer -The Oceandream Alchemist- reviewed today (yay!) and demanded a new chapter, I decided to fulfill her/his wish since I already had this chapter ready for posting. ^^ (Sorry, couldn't figure out your gender through your profile...)

But I'm not sure how long the next chapter will take since I don't know when my awesome Beta reader is done with it, so I'll probably won't be able to do this kind of thing a second time. ;) (You should feel yourself proud The Oceandream Alchemist)

Thank you DinRose, rachLA, Dying Heart Alchemist, Daninuyasha, Leimomi, Palirose, kuttipie3 and The Oceandream Alchemist for reviewing! And thank you Sayonara Yasashii Akumu for adding my story to one of your alerts~! Wow... Long list of Reviewers... O_O I'm so happy~! ^^

Anyway, here is the awaited chapter. Enjoy~! ^^

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><p><em>I'm running as fast as I can. My breath hitches in my throat in fear, making it even harder to breathe, but I keep on running. My body is much smaller than it should be, I don't have this short legs, I should be able to take longer strides and run faster then this. I can't let them take me; I don't want to go there, I'm afraid of it. The hands are painfully close, almost touching me. My energy is fading and I can feel myself lose speed. It's no use to fight them, they will get me anyway. No matter how far I run, no matter how fast, they will always follow me. <em>

_But I can't give up, not when I'm this close to the place where I belong._

_Something is grabbing my ankle and I face plant into the floor. I can hear them snickering behind me as the other hands grab me as well. I fight them to get away, but to no avail. They are slowly pulling me back, painfully slowly, like they want me to suffer, knowing that I will never be able to get back._

_Three images emerge from the darkness, three familiar people. There is one woman with soft grey eyes and beautiful brown hair, a man with short spiky orange hair and laughing green eyes and a girl with black hair and green eyes like the orange-haired man. All of them are smiling at me, but they do nothing but watch as I am being pulled away from them._

"_Mom… Dad… Raven…" I whisper in disbelief, tears of sorrow stinging in my eyes because they aren't helping me._

_And then Truth appears behind them with a big grin on his face. He is slowly reaching out for my mom and when he touches her shoulder, she begins to dissolve. My eyes widen in fear and I struggle even more to brake free from the hands' grasp._

"_No! Mom! Let me go! I have to save her! Let me go!" I scream in panic, but they only drag me away from my family faster. I desperately claw against the floor to find something to hold on to, but I can't find anything._

_My mom only has her face left when Truth is reaching out for my sister, my best friend, my cousin Raven. Neither my mom, dad or Raven remove the soft smile from their face; none of them moves their gaze away from me. The hands are pulling me further and further away from my family and the only thing I can do is to desperately try to break free from their grasp. Truth touches Ravens shoulder and she too begins to dissolve._

"_No! Raven!" I scream in panic and despair, I turn to my father in desperation. "Dad! Save her! You have to save her and mom! Please, do something!"_

"_Gloria…up…"_

_My dads smile turns sad and he shakes his head in defeat._

"_Gloria, wake up damn it!"_

I snap my eyes open and shoot up from my seat, completely tense as I look around in panic. I meet a pair of familiar golden eyes and I can feel myself relax a little, even though my breath is still heavy and my body is shaking after the nightmare I just had. I look down in my lap, hug myself tightly to calm down and take long, deep, shaky breaths.

"It was a nightmare… just a nightmare…" I mumble to myself, but I'm sure that the other three people that I'm travelling with heard me.

"Are you alright?" A soft voice to my right asks me, I lift my head a little so that I'm able to see through my orange bangs and look into Al's glowing eyeholes. How he manages to seem worried in a suit of armour I will never know, but looks like he is very concerned about me.

I shake my head roughly and look down in my lap once again. "N-no… But I will be… T-thanks for asking Alphonse…" I answer him truthfully with a lump in my throat. I try to swallow it down but it doesn't work.

To get away from the topic and to avoid thinking about the scary nightmare I decide to change topic. "So… When do we reach Resembool?" I ask Ed with a wry smile and meet his suspicious golden gaze. He looks out the window before he answers me.

"We will arrive in a few minutes." My mood brightens and I too look out the window. The sight of the beautiful green landscape makes me smile in excitement and I forcefully shove the thoughts of my nightmare to the back of my mind. Soon I will be able to see auto-mail, a beautiful mechanism that is only created here in FMA. Ever since I first saw Edward's arm I've dreamed of seeing one up close.

I clap my hands together and stare out the window with sparkles in my eyes; I will be able to meet Winry and see auto-mail! It's a dream come true!

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, we stop at the station in Resembool. The moment the train stops I'm already out from the train; I spin around in happiness for a while before I run up to Edward and Armstrong.

"Come on, come on, let's go! You promised me I could meet your mechanic and see auto-mail!" Edward first becomes depressed over the promise he made before on the train, but then his face breaks into his oh-so-famous grin. He always makes that grin whenever he is about to trick someone or something like that. I think he is making up some kind of plan for figuring me out.

Ed nods his head in approval and begins to walk towards Winry's house, calling over his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah don't be in such a rush."

I let outa small squeal and run after him in order to catch up. Armstrong is walking on Ed's left side, carrying Al in his wooden box, and I'm skipping on his right, singing 'auto-mail' over and over again to the lollipop melody. Pretty soon Edward screams at me to shut up, but I only begin singing a different annoying song 5 minutes later (the 99 bottles song). I like to see him angry.

I can soon see a yellow house and hear barking from the lawn. I grin in excitement and point at the house with sparkles in my eyes once again. "Edward, is that where your mechanic lives?" I almost yell in my excitement, I can hear the grin in Ed's voice when he answers.

"Yep, we're finally here." I let out a high pitched scream and run towards the house with my arms waving wildly by my sides. "Auto-mail! Auto-mail! Come on pipsqueak, walk faster!" I chant in glee, I can hear Edward shout one of his short rants before he runs after me with a fist waving in the air.

I cast a glance over my shoulder only to see a very mad Ed catching up to me. I knew that he was fast, but I didn't knew that he was this fast. I run even faster, but this time running away from the small enraged boy.

"Waaah! I'm sorry Edward! Please forgive me! I didn't mean it!" I scream before I face plant to the ground because I tripped over a rock, a stupid rock, I might add. I slide a few centimetres against the ground before I stop. Edward laughs at my clumsiness as I remove my face from the dirt road; I rub my scratched face just as I hear a dog bark.

Armstrong helps me to my feet, I thank him, and we continue our way to the house at a much calmer pace. I really have to restrain myself from running ahead of them once again. I'm practically shaking in excitement.

A short old lady is standing in front of the house to greet us; I wave enthusiastically to Mrs. Pinako. "Yo, granny." Ed says when we are a little bit closer. "We're back." Al says.

"God, what happened to you two?" Mrs. Pinako asks the two boys.

"A lot. We're going to need your help again." Ed answers.

Armstrong sets Al down and shakes hands with Mrs. Pinako. Edward then introduces him to her and Pinako introduces herself. When Mrs. Pinako then moves her gaze to me, I wear a big enthusiastic grin on my face, my fan girl self squealing loudly on the inside. It's Pinako! It's really Pinako Rockbell!

The old lady takes a breath form her pipe and breathes it out before she addresses me. "Who might you be? You seem to be very enthusiastic about something." I nod my head rapidly and shake her hand enthusiastically while I draw in a long breath to subsequently let it out in a tumble of words.

"I'm Gloria Dementor and I'm a big fan of everything that is mechanical! I saved Edward and Alphonse before in east city and when I heard about Edward going to his auto-mail mechanic I just had to beg him to take me with him! The main reason I'm here is to look for my father! Please let me look at your auto mail miss, it would be a dream come true for me!"

After my introduction I let go of her poor abused hand and breathe heavily to catch my breath. Pinako looks stunned for a second before she replies with a: "Sure, why not." before she turns her attention to Edward. I'm too busy squealing in glee in my head to be bothered by her sudden change of attention.

"But gosh darn, looks like Ed got shorter after not seeing him for some time." She says casually, successfully pissing Ed off.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to say 'got taller' at times like this…" He retorts with a dark aura surrounding him. I carefully move out of the way to stand behind him instead of being in the line of fire.

"If you really did, then I'd say so." Mrs. Pinako retorts back. I can see a blond haired girl appear on the balcony with a wrench in her hand, ready to throw. It's Winry! I squeal on the inside. Just like in the anime and manga, Edward gets hit with Wirny's wrench. When it bounces off his head, I catch it.

"Didn't I tell you to give me a call before stopping by for maintenance?" Winry shouts angrily at Ed from the balcony. "You trying to kill me, Winry?" He retorts angrily, Winry just laugh happily and say "Welcome back".

"Waaaaah!" Winry exclaims in horror after seeing the smashed pieces of metal that once was Ed's arm.

"My bad, my bad. It broke." Ed says without concern of Winry's feelings while sipping his tea.

Winry looks like she has seen ghost, which I find bit funny. "'Broke?' An auto-mail of the highest quality… That I worked so hard on…"

Ed seems quite proud of himself when he says. "Yeah, to smithereens." With that said, he gets a punch in the face from Winry. I calmly sip my own cup of tea and ignore all the commotion going on inside the room. When I'm done with my tea I ask Pinako to show me some auto-mail, since Winry has already started on Ed's arm. Auto-mail is just as fascinating as I thought it would be; how they are able to connect to the nerves and thus be able to move. I totally love mechanical stuff like this.

When I tell them that I will begin to search for the hint I found on my father, I can feel Edwards's suspicious glare on me. Pinako insists that I could stay in their house here during the nights if I want to; I thank her for her kind offer before I head out the door.

I really haven't planned anything to do during the time I 'search for my father'. But I can always practise my fighting skills and my alchemy… Since my alchemy allows me to control water, I'll have to find a river or something first.

I walk down the dirt road chanting 'river, river', over and over as I look at the landscape. I find some villagers and ask them if there is a river around here, they point me in the right direction and I thank them happily. I still have to act like I'm a 12-year-old when I'm around people, but sometimes I act my true age, like now, when I'm alone. I walk as I usually do, with my hands in my pockets and my head held high. When I act like a kid, I walk a little bit differently, with my arms swinging back and forth and with my head moving from side to side to the beat of my steps.

When I arrive at the river, I stop for a moment to stare at its beauty in the sun in awe; this is a perfect place to train. I smile a sad smile; I always trained together with Raven whenever we met each other…

I slap myself for thinking about Raven; I should think about the present, not the past. I walk up to the river, take off my studded boots and walk to the middle of the river. The cold water creates goose bumps on my skin as I position myself in the fighting stance that Raven has made just for my exclusive use, to fit my fighting style. I'm quick, but I'm not powerful, so she has balanced my stance so that I will quickly be able to block or dodge and then make a quick counterattack. Now that I think about it, my stance is designed more for defence than it is for offence…

If I train in the water, my movements will be a little hindered. That means that if I can fight at normal speed in water, I will be able to fight even faster on land. This kind of training is for improving my speed, much like Rock Lee's weight training in Naruto.

I kick, punch, flip and dodge, using all the moves that Raven has taught me over the 5 years that she's trained me and some I've come up with on my own, too. I joined a gymnastic team at a young age and because of that, I have a lot of strength in my arms, which allows me to put a lot of strain on them and make up different moves of my own. (I'm too lazy to explain the moves to you guys… Maybe I'll add them in a fight in the future… -_-")

I soon tire and climb out of the water to sprawl on the grass, gasping for breath and looking like someone who almost drowned. It's really tiring to fight in water for one hour straight; my body hurts all over, but as my father used to say, 'no pain, no gain'. If my body doesn't hurt after a workout, it means that I haven't tried hard enough.

Then I remember my alchemy and I sit up and look down at my small hands; I should be able to do it without a transmutation circle. With that thought in mind, I clap my hands together and slam them down on the ground. I imagine a nunchuck emerging from the ground as I chant the needed materials inside of my head.

Blue sparks gathers around me and I slowly pull my hands upwards as I imagine the nunchucks slowly emerging from the ground. Exactly as I had imagined, a pair of nunchucks made out of wood, with a chain of steel connecting the two pins, rises from the ground together with my hands.

When the blue sparkles of alchemy dies down, I'm holding a pair of poorly made wooden nunchucks in my hands and a small hole has appeared in the dirt where I transmuted the weapon. The weapon itself could have been much better, since both pins are bent at weird angles and the chain is so brittle that it falls apart in my hands, but it's a start.

It's much easier when I try to turn back the nunchucks back into dirt; almost as if I've done it before. Seeing as normal alchemy didn't work that well, I turn toward the river with a determined look in my eyes, wanting to try and see if my special alchemy works any better. If it doesn't, I have a problem.

I walk up to the shore and clap my hands again, but this time, instead of slamming them against the ground, I hold them up in front of me. I succeeded in using my alchemy before, after the encounter with the Elric brothers, so I should be able to do it now as well.

I imagine water rising from the river as I gaze at my blue-glowing hands and the river silently obeys me, but almost the whole river rises instead of just the bubble I had imagined. A nervous sweat starts to cover my skin as I separate my hands a little, moving one hand to the ground while the other is being held in the same position.

The water splits in two and the bottom half is lowered to the riverbed. The upper part is still very large, so I separate the water a second time. I repeat the procedure until I have enough water to work with. Somehow this water controlling and alchemy thing comes naturally to me, but I can't understand why. I've lived in a different world, a different dimension, but despite that, I can control alchemy really well. I only need more practice or a teacher.

I pull my hands closer and turn my palms upwards. The water is slowly following the movements of my palms so that it's now hovering over my hands like a big water bubble. I move my hands until it seems like I hold a sword in my hands and once again the water follows my movement, forming itself into a spear-like shape in my hands. When I tighten my hands around the liquid it solidifies into ice, until I have a sharp ice weapon in my hands.

When I let go of the ice it turns back into water and I have a thought. What if I can make the water move like in the cartoon Avatar where you can control the elements?

I position my hands in front of me, separate my knees from each other and bend them a little. The water, still following the movement of my palms, is now hovering in front of me. Slowly I move my body like the characters from Avatar does, making the water fly around me. When I get the hang of the movements I begin to move faster and faster, soon I am even able to make the water form itself into a ring and then solidify into ice. That can become very useful if I want to restrain someone or something.

I work with my water alchemy until the sun begins to set, then I make my way back to the Rockbell's house.

When I finally get there I'm being met by a hilarious sight; Edward is screaming in pain for being hugged by a shirtless Armstrong. I can't help but to burst out laughing at his horrified expression, which catches everyone's attention. I have to stifle my laughter into giggles before I'm able to speak.

"I'm back." I say happily and bounce up to Winry, giving her a tight hug. It must have startled her since she hesitates before hugging me back; when she does I begin to speak once again.

"Thank you for letting me stay here Winry-chan, Mrs. Pinako! I'm really grateful!" After I let go of Winry I proceed to hug Pinako, this being a much easier task since she is almost as short as I am. (I don't want to be this small…)

I can hear Pinako chuckle in amusement as she too hugs me back. "Don't worry about that, child. You can stay in Winry's room since we doesn't have any more spare rooms in this house." I let go of Pinako and shake my head furiously with eyes wide in shock.

"No, no, no, I can sleep on the couch! Only staying here and being given food is enough, I don't want to be any more of a burden then I already am!" I exclaim with a slightly panicked voice. Then I feel a hand on the top of my head and look up in curiosity. There stands Winry with a warm, comforting smile on her face; the look Raven always used to give me when I accidentally called her my sister or Raven-nee-chan. I can feel my eyes tear up a little at the thought of my cousin

"Don't worry, you won't be a burden. You are more then welcome." Wirny says softly; I give her a bright grin and clasp my hands behind my back. "Can I at least help with the food sometime? I am a great cook if I may say so myself." I turn towards Pinako when I ask my question; she too gives me a warm smile and replies with, "Sure, why not?" before she shoos me up to Winry's bedroom.

As I walk up the stairs I can feel a pair of eyes stare at my back, but I easily ignore them. I open each door until I find what I think is Winry's bedroom and goes to sleep on the mattress put out for me on the floor next to her bed.

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><p>The next morning, I wake up from my sleep with a scream, my breath heavy because of the horrible dream. It was the same dream as the last time, only with the twist that I was dissolving too. I look around the room in panic, not recognizing it as mine or Ravens room, and curl up into a fragile shaking ball.<p>

"Gloria, are you alright?"

I jerk my head up towards the smooth voice and for a moment I think that it is Raven before my hopes are crushed when I see that it's Winry.

_That's right, I died in a plane crash and Truth made me travel to the world of Fullmetal Alchemist. I've come here to Resembool to look for my fake father when I'm actually following the Elric brothers, _I remind myself.

Remembering Winry's question, my eyes tear up and I shake my head furiously before I curl up into a ball again.

"No." I say, my voice cracking a little. I can feel Winry's warm embrace around me and I accept it wholeheartedly. It's still a little bit shocking that I've come here; I told myself the first day that I know that this is real, that I know that I won't be able to get back and that I have to move on with my life here as a 12-year-old. But I was wrong then, I haven't accepted all this just yet… I really need someone to entrust my secrets to, someone who knows of the gate and will believe my true story. Someone like Edward and Alphonse Elric.

That's why I have to make them suspicious of me; I want them to ask me who I really am so that I can tell them. They are the only ones I know will keep my secret safe.

My crying soon ends but I'm still curled up into a ball and being held gently by Winry. Winry forces me to look up at her by grabbing my chin, tilting it upwards. She gives me a sad smile and asks me in a soft voice, like she is worried that she will scare me away if she talks too loud.

"Why don't we go downstairs and eat breakfast, then I probably can teach you how to make an auto-mail finger." I brighten up at the thought of learning something about auto-mail and I clasp my hands together as if praying.

"You mean it?" I ask her hopefully with sparkles in my eyes. She laughs and nods happily. "Of course." She replies. I jump up from the floor in joy, knocking over Winry as I do so, and do a little happy dance.

I grab Winry's hand and rush downstairs. "Come on, Winry-nee-chan! Let's go eat!" I exclaim in glee without knowing what I just said. I run inside the kitchen and I'm being met by a chuckling Pinako by the stove, cooking breakfast.

"My, my, aren't you energetic today?" I let go of Winry's hand and jump up on the counter of the kitchen. "Winry said that she might teach me how to make an auto-mail finger!" I squeal in glee, pumping my fists into the air which almost makes me fall over backwards.

Winry seems deep in thought before she snaps her fingers in realisation and points a finger at me. "Are those the only clothes you own, Gloria? If so, you can have some of my old clothes."

I'm practically beaming with happiness and I glomp Winry tightly as response. She laughs softly and returns the hug. "I take that as a 'yes'." Then she leads me upstairs once again to get my new clothes with me bouncing after her. When we pass by a groggy Ed on our way, both Winry and I say 'good morning' to him before continuing up the stairs and down the hall.

As I sit on Winrys bed with my feet happily dangling over the edge, Winry is digging through her closet to find some clothes for me.

"Ah! I found something!" She exclaims and holds up a small white skirt and a blue tank top, I smile at the tank top but frown at the skirt. I've never liked skirts and I never will – they make me feel exposed.

I look at Winry pleadingly with puppy dog eyes. "Please don't make me wear a skirt…" Winry looks uneasy at first but it changes into a forgiving smile.

"Sorry, but you have to put up with a skirt for now. I will try to find something else later, but this was all I could find in your size." I mumble a few curses under my breath, making sure that Winry didn't hear me, before I take the clothes from her hands and walk to the bathroom to change.

I remove my blue shorts and pink tank top with ease, since they are way too large for me, and put on the white skirt and blue tank top instead. They fit much better then my own clothes, but they are still a size too big for my little body. The skirt is a little too big by the waist so it slides down to my butt, and since I don't have any fitting panties my butt is showing. The tank top can cover the area that the skirt has missed, but I feel like it's not enough. So I once again use my fishnet gloves as a belt to hold the skirt in place.

I set up my hair in my normal two ponytails and look up at the mirror, my twelve year old body starring back at me. I must say that these clothes look cute on me, but I really hate to wear a skirt. When Winry finds some pants for me I won't hesitate to change into it; I can't train like this!

I can hear someone limping down the hall and since half the steps has a metal ring to them, I guess that it must be Edward. I smirk a little to myself as I come up with another plan to make them even more interested and suspicious of me; time to do some more acting! (Like I haven't done enough already… This morning's happiness hadn't been acting, though)

I slam my fist hard into the wall next to the mirror and I scream in frustration, but not loud enough for Winry to hear me. "Damn it! Why did this have to happen?" I can hear the steps halt to a stop outside the bathroom door; he must have heard me.

"I never asked for this! And why the hell did he have to take four years? Four years! Because of my alchemy, he says. Hah, he only wants to rip me away from my life! Or should I say she? It? Damn it, I don't know! And to add to it all, it gives me nightmares; I've never had nightmares before in my entire life! No matter how much it tells me to control my alchemy, they will never send me back; they can't do it. No one can resurrect the dead. Man, what if someone finds out about this? Should I tell them? Or should I just run away? I will probably run away, it's best if I don't tell anyone… But it would be nice to not have any secrets… Ugh, I don't know what I should do! And I hate skirts!",0

I mumble different curses under my breath as I walk over to the door. I slowly open the bathroom door and peek down the hall; no one's there. I know that Ed's on the other side of the door, though, so I fake a relieved sigh and scratch the back of my head and mumble. "Man, lucky nobody heard me… I must be an idiot, saying all that out loud…"

With that said, I look down at my skirt and become depressed. I stumble over to the stairs and begin to whine.

"Winry-chan… Do I really have to wear this skirt? I feel so exposed…" As I step inside the kitchen I can see Winry give me a sad smile.

"I told you that I will try and find some pants later, so you'll simply have to put up with it for now. But those look really cute on you." I cross my arms and pout in depression with a dark cloud looming over my head. I then walk over to the kitchen table and sit down in the closest seat, next to Armstrong.

"Good morning miss Gloria! Why so depressed all of a sudden? Should I cheer you up like the Armstrong family has cheered children up through generations?" He strikes a pose with one of his feet on the kitchen table and sparkles surrounding him. I growl in annoyance and give Armstrong a heated glare.

"No." I say sternly with venom lining my voice, Armstrong grows a little bit uncomfortable under my gaze and slowly sits back down in his seat.

That's when Edward walks into the kitchen and gives me a questioning glance and seeing as I am switched into 'bad mood', I glare back at him. Ed sits down in the seat across from me with a nervous sweat drop.

When a plate of toast is placed in front of me, my mood brightens and I happily take a bite from my breakfast. I can hear Winry asking Edward quietly if I'm always like this, but I choose to ignore it this one time, since it's Winry.

After I'm done eating my breakfast I jump up from my seat, rush over to Winry and excitedly bounce from foot to foot. "Are you done yet, Winry-chan? Can you teach me auto-mail now?" I ask her eagerly with the familiar sparkles in my eyes.

Winry sweat drops at the sudden change in my mood and replies tiredly. "Ehm… Sure, let's go." I squeal in joy and run up the stairs with Winry walking behind me, laughing at my enthusiasm.

Winry and I worked on Edwards's auto-mail for hours together, I helped her in every way I could and as promised, she let me build one of the fingers. It worked perfectly, so she put it on Ed's auto-mail arm and praised me for my hard work, but later she sent me off so that I wouldn't have to sit inside all day. She also let me search through her closet and a chest filled with old clothing for some clothes that would fit me. I found a few t-shirts and tank tops, 3 pairs of knee-length shorts and two pairs of short shorts that reached my thighs. I also found some panties, which I gladly put on, and some socks. Winry sure did save a lot of old clothing; I wonder why she doesn't sell it.

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><p>Right now, I'm lying in the grass in the front yard, staring up at the clouds while patting Den, who is lying beside me. I wear the blue tank top like before but I've changed into a pair of black knee-length shorts instead of the annoying white skirt. Al is leaning against the wall of the yellow house, looking out over the fields. I let my mind wander away to my world, to my family. I wonder what they are doing right now. Did they hear about the plane crash? Are they crying over me? Or have they even noticed that the plane crashed with me inside of it? There are so many questions spinning around in my head, but I can't chase them away. At least not without something to occupy me.<p>

I can hear someone approach me through the grass to my right; I tilt my head a little to the side to be able to see who it is and smile brightly. There stands Edward with a frown on his face and his arm resting on his hip in an intimidating fashion. I give him a little wave.

"Hi Edward! Did you come here to join me?" I ask in a cheery voice. Edward narrows his eyes a little. My cheerful smile turn into a nervous one and I slowly sit up.

"Ehm… Is something wrong?" I ask him nervously, is he finally going to demand who I am? I hope so, because then I can stop this 12-year-old act around him.

Edward narrows his eyes even further before he demands in a commanding voice. "Who are you and what did you mean by someone taking four years from you?"

On the outside I wince and widen my eyes a little, but on the inside I smirk in satisfaction.

Perfect timing, Ed.

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><p>What do you think? Good? Bad? Review! ^^<p>

How do you think she will tell him? Will she run away like she said before? Well, you have to find out in the next chapter~! ;)

See you soon~! ^^

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><p><em>Sneak peak: (Just for fun and to make you confused. XP)<em>

_"So… What is this distraction then?" I straighten my back, cross my arms over my chest and lift my chin a little. Like I'm about to announce something really important or sacred. "Chocolate." _


	4. The truth

Hi everyone, how are you~! ^^ Bad? Had a though day? Then i can cheer you up with this chapter! ;)

This chapter will be a little bit sad, but do not worry! Do you remember the sneakpeak i gave you last chapter? It's coming now, and I find that part hilarious. XD I will do another even funnier scene (I hope) when they visit lab five~! ;)

And also, thank you DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympians for reviewing~! I'm glad that so many people like my story! ^^

I've only posted three chapters and I already have 16 reviews, 11 favs and 6 alerts! Can you believe it? I sure can't. I'm so glad that you enjoy reading my story! I love you guys~! ~^0^~

Now, enjoy another chapter~! ;) I don't know if i made Ed a little OOC... Sry if I did... ^^"

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><p>I laugh nervously and scratch the back of my head in obvious fake confusion. I love my acting skills, they are so useful. Thank you mom, for forcing me to take acting classes.<p>

"W-what do you mean with four years? I've never s-said that." I stutter and look another way, suddenly finding the fields very fascinating. Edward walks even closer to me, now only an arm's length away from me, and says sternly;

"Don't try and deny it, I heard you when you talked inside the bathroom." I tense up and slowly glance up at Edward with a blank face; he is looking down at me with narrowed eyes and determination burning in his eyes. If I don't answer his question he will probably resort to using force; I can sense that he won't give up on this. But I'm actually very happy that he finally asks me, because now I can finally drop my acting and be myself.

I sigh dramatically, stand up and slide my hands into my pockets. I flip my bangs out of my eyes and look at Edward with a big grin.

"So you finally found out, huh? Took you long enough." I snicker at his confused expression and turn towards the dirt road, waving a hand over my shoulder to tell him to follow me.

"If you want to hear my story, follow me. I don't want anyone else to hear."

Edward hesitates for a second before he follows me down the dirt road away from the house. When he catches up to me he asks; "What do you mean by that? Weren't you going to run away?"

My grin grows wider and I hide my eyes behind my bangs mysteriously. "You'll find out soon, but first we have to walk away so that no one can hear us. I'm thinking about going to the river, because then I can also show you what brought me here." I don't look at Ed**, **so I can't see his reaction, but it's fun to act mysterious.

After a few minutes of walking, we arrive at the river where I trained earlier when I 'searched for my father'. I sit down by the shore, remove my stud boots, dip my feet into the cold water and sigh in contentment. Walking in too big shoes can give you blisters; I have one on each little toe.

Edward hadn't sat down beside me like I thought he would do, so I glance over my shoulder to see golden eyes give me a calculating and suspicious gaze. I sigh again and pat the ground beside me. "I won't bite you, if that's what you think."

Ed narrows his eyes, slowly walks over and sits down next to me, giving me a stern gaze which tells me to begin talking. I lean back, putting my weight on my arms as I splash the water with my feet; I look up (I'm shorter than Edward… I would have been that even if I hadn't met him, but still…) into his eyes seriously.

"I will begin with the short version and then go further into details. Now, I'm Gloria Dementor, 16 years old and I come from the other side of the gate. Truth wanted my alchemy, killed me and I was forced to pay my age as toll to come here. Four years have been removed from my memory and my body, so I'm a 12 year old again."

Edward looks completely shocked and stares at me with wide eyes and his mouth open, until he recovers a bit from the shock and scream at the top of his lungs; "THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GATE!" I cover my hurting ears and squeeze my eyes shut in pain at the loud he's done shouting I shout back just as loud as he did.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME DEAF! THAT FUCKING HURT MY EARS! THIS IS JUST WHY I WANTED TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE TO TALK!" Now it was Edward's turn to cover his ears (or ear since he only has one arm) in pain and lean away from meas much as possible.

I close my eyes and force myself to take deep calming breaths before I speak again, now at a much lower volume. "Alright, you got the short version so go ahead and ask for details."

When he doesn't immediately ask a question, I furrow my brows in confusion and slowly open my eyes. The look on his face makes me burst out laughing; he looks surprised, confused and suspicious at the same time. His eyes are widened in surprise, his mouth is open, with one corner pulled slightly higher than the other and one of his brows is raised. All in all, it makes his face look incredibly stupid.

I clench my stomach and fall over on my back in laughter, tears stream down my cheeks as I roll on the ground gasping for air. "You… your face… it's priceless… look so stupid…." I say through my laughing fit. Edward growls in annoyance and scream at me, looking like he does when he's on one of his short rants. "Shut up!"

That just makes me laugh even harder, until I had a hard time breathing. Before I die of suffocation, I clap my hands to make water splash on my face, but instead of a small bubble like I imagined, a huge wave rises from the river and towers over us. Edward yelps, jumps up to his feet and runs away.

I stop laughing as the wave hits us, dragging me into the river. The water surrounds me, but strangely enough, I can breathe and I'm able to take calming breaths, still giggling a little. I look around and see my studded boots slowly sink to the bottom.

I swim over, catch them and then I slowly swim towards surface and the shore where I know Edward is. When I emerge from the water so that only my hair and eyes are visible, I can see Ed looking around wildly, searching river for me. I smile happily at that. He is worried about me, how nice.

When he spots my orange hair over the surface, a little to the right of him, he relaxes and gets a knowing glint in his eyes.

"That was your alchemy, wasn't it? You can control water." I nod, still only with my hair and eyes showing and speak, but the sound becomes a little muffled by the water.

"Yes, and I discovered just now that I can breathe under water too. I can control water perfectly, without knowing how. I tried to do normal alchemy, but it was horrible. I knew that you knew of the gate as well as alchemy, that's why I wanted you to be suspicious of me and to discover me, eventually. That was my plan ever since I came here, to this side of the gate. That's why I gave you a few hints. For example, I knew you where outside the bathroom when I screamed like I did. It was always my intention for you and your little brother to know about me and my situation."

When I stand up, I expect water to drip off my hair and clothes, but not a single drop has stained my clothes or my hair. I stare down at my dry clothes in awe and I have to touch them and my hair to know that it's real. When I know that they really are dry, I look at the drenched Edward to see his reaction. He has the same expression as me and stares at me in disbelief. Yesterday when I was training in the water, I got wet, so why am I dry now? What's the difference?

My legs fold beneath me as they lose their strength and I fall down to my butt with a yelp. I don't know if it was because I was exhausted fromusing my alchemy, or if it was just because of the shock of it all, but my yelp snaps Edward out of his daze and he limps over to me. He kneels down, putting his weight on his flesh leg instead of the spare one, so that our eyes are at the same level.

"It sure is an amazing type of alchemy. I've never heard of anyone having that kind of alchemy before. I've once fought with the freezer alchemist, but he used water differently than you do." He says to me with awe and he looks at my dry hair and clothes as he speaks.

I look down in sadness as I clench my hands into the soft grass beneath me. "Sure, my alchemy is amazing, but I wish I didn't have it." My sentence catches his attention and he stares into my grey sad eyes, silently begging me to continue. I meet his gaze before I do.

"If it weren't for my alchemy and strong connection to the gate, I would still be at home. I would still have a normal life with my friends and family. At first I always wanted to come to this side and experience adventures, but now that I'm here and I know that I'll never be able to go back, I just want all of this to be a dream. I always dream strange nightmares like this. I mean, I'm a little kid again, just when I was two years away from being considered a legal adult, I will most likely be chased for this power I possess and the worst part is that I won't be able to see my family. On my side, I'm dead. And no one can bring the dead back to life. You and your brother have seen what happens if you try."

Edward tenses and gives me a stern stare; I look down in my lap and hide my eyes from his line of sight. "I always wonder what they are doing without me; are they able to move on? Do they even know that I'm dead? Truth killed me along with hundreds of other innocent people in order to take me here, where my alchemy would be much stronger than on my side. No one on my side is even able to do alchemy, but somehow I was able to do it at the age of three." I can hear Ed let out a shocked gasp when I finish my sentence. He sure gets surprised, confused or shocked a lot today. A bitter smile finds its way to my lips at the thought before I continue to speak.

"Truth kind of began to spy on me when he noticed my alchemy powers, he wanted to see how my alchemy could develop if I trained it. He let me find out about this side and know almost every detail of it before he sent me to my death along with all the other innocent people. The second he talked to me when I was still alive, I knew that something horrible would happen. And look where it brought me; to the other side, where my powers are too powerful for me to control." Tears are silently streaming down my cheeks, I try to wipe them away but they just keep coming. "I knew that if I wanted to survive in this world, I would have to control my alchemy. But in order to do that I need someone to teach me and that would mean that someone would have to know about my secret. That's why I wanted you to know about me Ed. I need you to teach me how to survive in this world. I'm not looking for my dad here in Resembool, I'm here to follow you."

I stare into his stunned golden eyes with determination. I furiously wipe away my tears and hold up a hand in front of me in determination. "Let me be your apprentice." He stares back at me with his mouth wide open once again, and then he trips backwards and lands on his butt much like I did before. I laugh softly when he continues to stare at me in surprise and shock; he has done that a lot during our little talk.

I rise to my feet and extend a hand to help him up; Edward had to blink a few times to come back to reality before he can take a hold of my hand and allow me to pull him up. When he is standing again, I pout angrily with an angry vein on my head, he is 5 inches taller than me, even though he is younger.

He gives me an annoyed look and put his hand on his hip. "What?" He demands; I mumble a few curse words before I growl darkly with an emo cloud looming over me. "I hate being this small… Even you are taller than me… And even if I was still 16, you would still be taller…" I mumble the last part as quietly as possible but Edward seems to have heard it anyway, because his face breaks into a big grin. He pats my head with his hand and laugh loudly.

"Finally I'm taller than someone about my age and older than me on top of that!" My emo cloud becomes even darker as Ed brags about how tall he is and how I'm so much shorter than him. When he finally notices how angry I am, he slowly backs away towards the dirt road with his hand raised pathetically.

"Edward… Do you know what happens to people who make fun of my height?" I ask him darkly, advancing towards him while glaring intensively. He becomes even more nervous when his back is met by a tree and I move my hands to clap them together. I clap my hands together and scream loudly.

"THEY GET A PUNISHMENT!"

I think that even the ones back at the Rockbell's house could hear Edward's scream.

* * *

><p>When I approach the Rockbell's house I'm dragging Ed behind me in his pigtail, grumbling curses under my breath. Edward is unconscious and has swirls for eyes, but he deserves it. No one calls me small – not even Raven is allowed to. Everyone gets a punishment, even though a few people getting a milder punishment than everybody else, since I like them. I went easy on Edward, just a few small cuts, a blue eye, a swollen cheek, and a few hits to the stomach. I will do worse than this if he calls me small again…<p>

I can hear Den bark from the front yard and I look up at the house. Al is still leaning against the wall, staring at me and Ed in shock, Winry must be working on Edward's auto-mail while Pinako is cooking dinner with Armstrong helping her. I wave happily at Al, like I'm not dragging an unconscious Edward behind me. Al waves back weakly.

When I reach the house I greet Den with a pat on her head before I drag Ed to Al's side. "Brother!" Al exclaims in worry and carefully shakes him with his intact arm as I place a hand on my hip and point down at Ed, saying in a cheery voice;

"Can you take care of him Al? I'm going inside to help Miss Pinako with the dinner. And make sure that he doesn't talk to me before dinner; if he does, I might lose my temper again and I don't think he would like that." Al sweat drops nervously and stops trying to shake his older brother back to life.

"You lost your temper? What exactly did he do?" The air around me grows dark and I growl lowly under my breath. I clench the hand I pointed at Edward with and hold it in front of me instead, shaking in anger. Al sweats nervously and he begins to shrink back a little to escape my wrath.

"He called me the taboo word. The word that makes him angry makes me murderous. I hate being called that – everyone who calls me that will get a punishment. His punishment was very minor this time, but I swear, if he calls me that again, it will be much worse…" With those final words, I angrily stomp over to the porch of the house. I force myself to calm down enough to be able to act happily before I open the door with a cheerful smile.

"I'm back~!" I call into the house as I remove my boots; Pinako pokes her head out from the kitchen and smile warmly at me. "Have you found him yet?" She asks as I walk over to her.

I'm at first a little confused at her question; find who? Then I remember my fake story about looking for my father and I shake my head with a nervous smile on my lips.

"Nope, not yet. But I feel like I'm close." I say happily with my fist raised into the air, Pinako smiles sadly before she motions to me to follow her inside the kitchen.

I helped her and Armstrong finish the food and do the table. When the food was done, I went upstairs to get Winry.

* * *

><p>Me and Winry walk together into the kitchen, laughing. But when I see Ed, I stop, even though the laughing face is still intact. Edward is sitting at the dining table with his arm resting on the table as he looks at me. The longer I stare at him with that laughing face, the more he begins to sweat nervously. Then I move to the seat that is as far away from Edward as possible, acting like I never stopped in the doorway and created an awkward silence a few seconds ago. I was in a happy mood the rest of the dinner, but Edward never relaxed and didn't utter a word. I think it's because Al told him what I said to him before.<p>

When we all had finished our dinner, I helped Pinako with the dishes before I seated myself inside Ed and Al's room, staring out the window. Al is still sitting outside and I saw Edward walk outside to keep him company just a few minutes ago, so I'm alone in the room right now, as I wait for Ed to come back. I've no idea where Winry, Pinako or Armstrong is, but I don't care. Right now, I just want to be alone. I just want to let my mind drift away and think about my own world like I usually do. A glass of water stands on the bedside table a few feet away from where I'm sitting on the bed; I brought it with me from the kitchen if I want to practice my alchemy while I wait, but I don't feel like practicing right now.

The sky outside has an orange tint to it and together with the bright green fields it is areally beautiful sight. The only time I've seen something as beautiful as this was when I was travelling together with Raven and both of our parents. We travelled to New Zeeland that year; we were having a picnic on top of a small hill. Even though the hill was small, we could still see above all the high trees of the rainforest and see the big wide ocean. When the sun began to set, the orange light glistered on the water and gave a whole new life to the trees. The birds were singing beautifully at the time, like they were saying goodbye to the sun and telling it to come back just as bright the next day. I was so happy then, together with my family. But now, when I see the beautiful scenery of Resembol, I can't feel anything other than sadness.

Without knowing it, I clap my hands and make the water inside the glass move according to my will. I'm still thinking about the happy times at New Zeeland while I twirl with the water bubble I've just gathered. My mind is too far away to even notice when Edward and Alphonse enter the room.

I let my mind wander from my family to the one who forced me to this world, Truth. A sudden flare of anger appears inside my chest and I clench the hand resting on my knee. I narrow my eyes angrily and the water that is hovering above my hand takes the form of Truth in ice form. The cold of it as it lands in my hand brings me back to the present from my thinking trance. I stare down at the ice sculpture of Truth in hatred and then I make it explode in my hand.

When I see the Truth sculpture explode into tiny pieces I can feel some kind of satisfaction at first, but then it turns into sadness. Blaming Truth won't do me any good; blaming others is never good. What has happened can't be undone; I'm stuck here, no matter whose fault it is. I just have to move forward and accept it, use my two legs and keep walking.

I smile bitterly at the little piece of ice still lying in my hand, I imagine the Truth sculpture being returned to its whole state and the scattered ice pieces gather together in my hand again. After a few seconds, I once again hold an ice sculpture of Truth in my hand, sitting casually with its arm resting against its knee. I unfold my clenched hand and move it to the small sculpture to stroke its soft surface. I know that the ice won't speak to me, but even so, I feel like I have to say this out loud… Or else, it won't feel real.

"I can't forgive you for taking away my life, but blaming it on you won't do me any good. Maybe you had another reason for bringing me here, other than just my alchemy. Maybe you want me to prevent something in this world, or maybe you want me to do something. But one thing is for sure; you want me here for a reason. What it is, I will never know... I just hope that I can move on in my life without my opposite card…"

As I thought the sculpture doesn't answer me, but saying that I won't blame this on Truth makes me feel better in some kind of way. I once again look out the window; the sun has sunken a bit further and is now spreading its orange light into the room. I smile softly and hold up the ice sculpture against the light, making it glister with orange sparkles. I change the sculpture of Truth into another, a picture taken from a memory. When the new sculpture has taken form, I smile happily and touch my oval necklace.

Two girls are standing next to each other with their arms around each other's shoulders and they both flash a peace sign. One girl has her hair tied in two pigtails at the top of her head while the other girl lets her hair hang loose to the middle of her back. Both of them look really happy and they are laughing together. I can clearly see their faces through the orange light from the sun; they are so detailed that they could just as well have been alive if it weren't for them being transparent.

My face breaks up into a big, proud grin over my creation and I laugh softly. Me and Raven were at a Tivoli at the time the sculpture is showing; it was her first day ever at a Tivoli and I gave her a ticket for her 10th birthday. I was 8 then and I was so proud over having bought Raven her gift with my own money. Back then I grew normally, but I grew less and less each year after my 9th birthday. We could never figure out why, but we couldn't do anything about it.

I bring the sculpture closer to my face and I stare straight at Raven's grinning face as I once again talk to it, my voice much softer than when I talked to the Truth sculpture.

"Well, Raven. I will miss you; nothing will be the same with you gone. But… I will keep on walking, for you. I know that you would never want me to give up before I've even tried, in fact, you would beat me up if I did. You were always there together with me, helping me with almost everything. You taught me how to fight, you gave me courage and you were like a sister to me. Now that I've left your world I have to stand on my own, just like you will have to do. You are much stronger than me, so you will be fine. Me? I simply won't let this bring me down. I have to use my legs and keep on walking; no matter how hard the road is, I have to keep going. That's something you have thought me. I will see you in my nightmares, I will still remember your face and no matter what, I won't give up."

When I'm done talking to my sculpture, I finally notice a pair of eyes staring at me. I turn towards the door opening and see Edward stand there with Alphonse leaning against him. The door is shut behind them and both of them are staring sadly at me. My grin grows and I look at Ed. "You told Al, right? Or else, he would be completely confused." I laugh happily and place my ice sculpture on the bedside table.

Alphonse nods. "Yea, he told me before, when he woke up from your beating." Edward winces at the memory and laughs nervously. I walk over to them and help Edward steer Alphonse to one of the beds so that he can sit. When Alphonse is seated, I and Ed sit down on the bed opposite to Al.

Edward picks up my ice sculpture of me and Raven and studies it carefully. "Amazing… It's so detailed…" He breathes in awe; he then gives it to Al so that he also can study it. Al, too, looks at the statue in awe, before handing it back to me. When I get the sculpture from Al I smile softly.

"I really have no idea how I did it, I didn't even know that I was playing with my alchemy before I created the first sculpture. I just thought of a memory and created this." I hold the sculpture a little higher so that it once again is glistering in the evening sunlight. "The one with the pigtails is obviously me and the other one is my cousin Raven. It was Ravens 10th birthday and I bought her a ticket to a carnival with my own money. I was so proud that I could buy something that she would enjoy so much with my own money. Since I was only 8 years old then, I had to work really hard to get enough money for both of us. I and Raven went to the carnival alone, but I think that our parents followed us just to make sure that we would come home safely. I was so happy that day…"

I can see that the ice is beginning to melt, so I freeze it again before I place it on the bedside table. I flash a happy grin at Ed and Al. "I can't ever experience those days together with her again, but if I just fell into depression, she would never forgive me. I will just keep on moving forward."

Both of the brothers stare at me in surprise for a while before Edward breaks the silence. "Wow, I never thought that you could be this… Grown up." Al nods in agreement. "Yeah, you were so much like a little kid."

I huff angrily, puff out my cheeks and cross my arms. "Well, if you suddenly turn 4 years younger you can't exactly act your own age, you know. Sure, it's not so hard for me with my acting skills and all, but it isn't very easy either. I have to think about acting my age almost all the time! It feels like I am myself even though I'm not! I even have to walk differently!" I wave my arms over my head in frustration at the last sentence, but then I turn all chibi-like with a finger placed on my bottom lip. "Although… Now when I have my random moments, no one will think that I'm crazy…" I smile proudly, cross my arms over my chest and nod my head in agreement.

Both of the brothers sweat-drop at that. "Ehm… Random moments?" Al asks me nervously. I nod in confirmation and hold up a finger in front of me and say in a matter-of-fact tone:

"Yeah, sometimes I just do these incredibly stupid things for no apparent reason. It can happen any time, anywhere. I don't care about what people think; I just do what I want to do for a short period of time. These random moments started to come when I was about 9 years old; that was also the time when I began to grow less and less for each year. So I believe that it has some kind of connection somehow… Anyway, during these random moments I become kind of like crazy or monkey-like depending on the time of day. I don't act like a monkey then; I am just somehow able to have the animal's grace. If I have my moment during the morning or in the middle of the day I just get really random. Like screaming weird things or doing something a normal person wouldn't do. If I get my moment in the evening or at night, I become all clingy and I chase everything that sparkles or shines. And I act kind of monkey-ish, like an evil monkey. My moment ends when I've stayed at the same spot for 15 seconds, but I won't remember anything I've done afterwards. Raven has told me that one time when I had one of these moments, I suddenly jumped up on the roof of a moving car and pretended that I was flying. Then I stole an ice-cream from a three-year-old kid and then, one time, I was standing on a train rail. I was lucky that no trains came right then…"

I had been so into telling about my random moments that I hadn't paid any attention to their reactions, but I wish I had, since they are now staring at me nervously, sweating like they are afraid that I will have one of my moments right now. I give them a confused stare in return. "What? I'm telling you the truth. It isn't my fault, you know. There exists a great way to distract me, so it isn't like I'm uncontrollable or something like that."

Both of them relax and let out a sigh in relief. Once again I give them a questioning glance; have they decided to let me tag along with them? Is that why they were so nervous before, because they would be the ones that would have to put up with me? I hope that is the reason. It would be so awesome to travel with them! Although, I will follow them no matter if they want me to or not…

Edward smiles nervously and looks at me. "So… How can you be distracted**,** then?" I straighten my back, cross my arms over my chest and lift my chin a little, like I'm about to announce something really important or sacred. "Chocolate." Is the only thing I say. Alphonse tilts his head in confusion and repeats, "Chocolate?"

I nod seriously and narrow my eyes, daring him not to agree with me on the next thing I'm about to say. "Yes, chocolate. What else would be able to distract anyone? Chocolate is the god of goodness, no one should think anything else about it. If anyone says something bad about chocolate, it's like insulting me about my height. Edward knows what happens if you do… There is, of course, another way to end my moment if you want to end it quickly. You just have to call me the taboo-word. Although, then I would come after you to punish you and you would have a near-death-experience. And Ed, I went easy on you before. I can do much worse."

Ed swallows nervously and scoots away from me a little. Then I suddenly change my mood and smile happily. "If I want to punish you, you can give me chocolate and I'll stop. I will do almost anything to have a piece of chocolate."

"So if I call you sm-the taboo-word and you are trying to kill me, all I have to do is to give you chocolate and you'll stop?" Edward asks me hopefully, where upon I give him an of-course look as reply, which makes him grin broadly in relief. Then he stands up and rushes to the door.

"I'll be right back!" He calls over his shoulder before he disappears down the hallway. I blink in surprise after him before I turn to look at Al, who is looking just as surprised as I am.

"Do you know why he did that?" I ask him; he just shakes his head in reply. I narrow my eyes suspiciously at the door opening before I just shrug it off, turn my ice sculpture back into water and transfer it into the empty glass.

Soon Edward comes back with something behind his back; I stare at him with my eyes narrowed. "What are you doing Edward?" I ask him in suspicion as I raise an eyebrow in interest. Edward only flashes a confident smirk, giving a quick glance to Al before he answers me.

"Oh, I'm just testing something, shrimp." I wince and a murderous aura surrounds me as I slowly stand up. I walk over to Edward, passing a nervous Alphonse on the way.

"What did you say, huh? I don't think I heard you clearly." I say in a voice filled with venom and anger. Edward seems a little afraid at first, but then he pulls himself straight, showing how much taller than me he is.

"I called you 'shrimp'." He says confidently. Al squeaks in fear when my dark aura grows more intense and I clap my hands together angrily. The water inside the glass moves up to my side and I transform the small amount of water into needles. I glare hatefully at Edward as I scream.

"DON'T CALL ME SO SMALL THAT I NEED A CRANE TO PICK STRAWBERRIES!" I send a wave of needles towards Edward, but they stop, just a few inches from his face. I will tell you what made them stop, as long as you don't laugh… The moment I saw what Edward held behind his back, that was the only thing I could focus on. I think you can guess what it was. Yes, it was the 'god'; it was chocolate.

I stare at the chocolate wide-eyed with a little drool escaping my mouth. I quickly make the water return to the glass and appear in front of Edward to snatch the chocolate away from him. But at the last second, Edward pulls the 'god' away from my reach by holding it as high above his head as he can. I glare heatedly at him, the dark aura surrounding me once again. Edward swallows nervously before he composes himself and I can see confidence in his eyes.

"I will give you this on one condition." He says sternly, which is enough to make the dark aura disappear only to be replaced with sparkling eyes and a hopeful smile. I clasp my hands together and nod my head furiously. Ed looks down at me in amusement, like he is about to laugh any second, before he choughs and straightens himself a little more.

"You must promise to not try and kill me, ever." Once again I nod my head furiously at his words and just stare at the chocolate with longing eyes.

"That won't be a hard promise to keep. Now gimme!" I say in a childish voice, trying to reach the chocolate. I know that I'm just making it even more amusing to Ed when I reach for the chocolate, but I don't care. I just want the chocolate, damn it!

Slowly Ed lowers the chocolate so that I can reach it. As soon as it comes within my reach I quickly snatch it from him and run a few feet away before I sit down cross**-**ledged on the floor to eat my chocolate in peace. That's when Edward starts to laugh hysterically, and Al too, as a matter of fact, but I could care less right now. I got chocolate! I'm the happiest 'chocolate-god believer' ever right now.

* * *

><p>You like it? Are you in a better mood? If not, then I'm sorry to hear that.<p>

What was your first thought when you heard about her random moments? I really want to know what you think~! ^^ I will use her random moments, but not all the time. I don't know if I'll make them fade away later in the story or not... :/ I'll let you decide that later~! ^^

Again, thank you all for reading this story! I'm really happy that you are~! ^^ I don't really know if you even read my authour notes anymore since i just write so much nonsence...

See you soon~! ^^


	5. Off to Central we go

Hi everyone~! Missed me? :D

This chapter is kind of a filler-ish chapter, so nothing special happens in this one. -_-"

And from now on, I'll start to thank every single person who reviewed, and not just the new ones, but I'll stop to thank the persons who added this story as favourite/alert. You know who you are without me saying it, and I'll forever be grateful to you that you like my story! ^^

So, thank you rachLA, DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympians, Dying Heart Alchemist, The Oceandream Alchemist, SeaDevil, bokpricken and Loki The Evil Goddess for reviewing! I really love to read them all! ^^

And special thanks to those who wanted to join the chocolate religion I created! I become really happy to know that there are other people who like chocolate as much as I do! The words of chocolate have to be heard! :D

* * *

><p>Ok, Ed and Al laughed at me even more than before when I worshiped my god after I ate it. But now both of them have dents in their heads because of it – ok, Al was the only one with a dent (ice can apparently be useful in that way too<strong>…<strong>) – Ed had a big bump. No one makes fun of my religion!

Ed argued with me for a while, saying that I broke my promise already, but I said that I never had any attention to kill him - just to hurt him for laughing at my religion. And yes, I'm a chocolate-god believer. As soon as I had experienced the wonderful taste of chocolate, I created the religion. I even convinced Raven to join and together we spread the word about the chocolate-god. Even though only little kids listened to us…

Almost every time I eat a piece of chocolate, I say this with my hands clasped together: "_Thank you for sharing your godly taste to a small being like me. May your good children come back to your being through us humans when we eat them. May you send new children back to earth so that it will be an endless cycle of life and taste. __Chocolate_."

Hey! Don't laugh at my praying! I swear, the chocolate-god is protecting me because I worship him! You should too! Ok, maybe the chocolate-god's protection hasn't showed yet… But I swear! The chocolate-god exists! Maybe the chocolate-god is the reason I have these random moments… I created the religion when I was 9 after all… Only the chocolate-god knows. Oh well, back to the story!

It is now the third day that we've stayed here in Resembol and I've once again lied about finding a lead about my father, this time pointing towards central. I will leave tomorrow at dawn, the same time as Ed, Al and Armstrong (Ed's auto-mail wasn't done when I announced it, so at the time they didn't know that they would leave with me). Winry looked a little sad about the thought of me leaving, and I can understand why; we have become very good friends during my stay here. I've helped her with Ed's auto-mail, so we have had a lot of time to talk, and even though I wasn't able to talk like I normally do with her, it was still fun to have some girl-talk.

I've told Ed and Al a lot about my side of the gate, but I haven't mentioned anything about them being fictional characters in my world. That would be too confusing for them. But the three of us have become good friends and Edward has even taken me as his student! Yay! He hasn't taught me any 'real' alchemy yet, only the basics and transmutation circles. Even though I already know everything from my passage through the gate, it's still very interesting to hear it from an alchemist instead of just seeing it as images.

I'm getting much better at controlling my water alchemy too; I've discovered some new things that I can do with it and how the circle I'm supposed to use to create my alchemy looks like.

It is a circle with two overlapping triangles forming a six-pointed star placed inside it, its tips touching the circle and then a whirlpool standing in the centre of it all. Edward and Alphonse helped me finding it by combining two transmutation circles, one for water and one for control. Speaking of which – I've gotten quite good at drawing transmutation circles, even though they still can't compare to Ed and Al's circles.

I've helped a lot with the cooking and I even convinced Pinako to let me do the dinner by myself one time, making one of my mother's special family recipes. Everyone loved it and Pinako even asked for the recipe. I was very happy that they liked my food so much, but I told Pinako that it was a family recipe and that I wouldn't give it to her. She became a little disappointed, but she understood my reason and didn't push it any further.

But back to the present! I am sitting in Winry's room while she and Pinako attach Edward's auto-mail. I asked for a little money yesterday to buy the sketchbook I'm now drawing in; it began as just a few doodles, but then I started to draw characters from different mangas. I drew some chibis of L from _Death Note_ and other characters that I find cute in chibi form, Ed and Al included. Then I draw some characters of my own design in Naruto, FMA and Inuyasha where they are doing something funny with the main characters, like fighting over something stupid or experience an awkward moment.

After a while I start to draw more serious drawings; of my family. I started with drawing a family photo of everyone, then some of me and Raven as kids. I'm just adding the final touches to the drawing of where we are sitting on the hill in New Zeeland when Winry calls up to me and says that dinner is ready.

"Alright, Winry-chan~! I'll be there soon!" I call back to her cheerfully, continuing to add the final touches to my drawing. When I'm done, I close my sketchbook and run downstairs to eat dinner.

My twelve-year-old act is becoming more and more natural for me with every day that passes since I came to this world. I barely have to think about how to act around other people than Edward and Alphonse anymore - but I must say that it's really nice to be able to act normally with them. And I'm planning on letting Mustang know, too, but not in the slow way I let Edward do it. I know that when we get back to Central the library will have burnt down and Armstrong will leave us with Ross and Brosh. At that time**,** I will give him a letter that will be addressed to Mustang. But I won't tell you what I'll write on it, not yet.

Hopefully, the state alchemist exams will be coming soon so that I can help Edward and Alphonse in their search for the philosopher's stone. Even though I know almost everything about the stone, I don't want to reveal anything to them. That could change the plot dramatically… Maybe the exams are during the 15 days that Ed and Al are doing their research! That would be perfect.

Today's meal is just like every other meal we've had together during these three days, cheerful and carefree. Winry is somewhat more quiet than usual, but it's probably just because of her lack of sleep and because Edward will be leaving soon. When I notice Winry's mood, I instantly try to cheer her up with one of my failed jokes. It actually works and she hugs me tightly, telling me how absolutely adorable I am. I blush a little at the compliment and giggle in glee.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Alphonse is whole once again, so he is now sitting at the table with us. Edward fixed him right after he got his auto-mail attached. Too bad I was so into drawing that I missed seeing it…

After dinner, I help Pinako with the dishes like I always do; Winry has gone upstairs to put away her tools and stuff in her work room so she isn't here to help us. When I'm in the middle of drying a plate I get an idea**:** what if I can clean the dishes with my alchemy?

I jump off the stool that I've been standing on and run over to one of the cabinets where I know the glasses are. I pull out a big glass and fill it with dish-water from the sink while Pinako looks at me in confusion. I ignore her confused stare and proceed to clap my hands and hold them out towards the glass of water.

When my hands start to glow, the water moves itself from the glass and towards my palms. When I turn my head towards Pinako, who's still standing by the counter, I can see her stare at me in amazement. I give her a huge grin and walk over to her and the dirty dishes with the water bubble still floating over my hand.

"I want to test something with my alchemy!" I say happily before I pick up a dirty plate and put it inside the water bubble. The plate stays floating inside the bubble, just like I wanted it to do, and I imagine that small currents are washing off the dirt from the plate.

It works.

I stare in amazement as I can see the currents inside the bubble hit the plate, effectively washing away the dirt in just a matter of seconds. Pinako reaches inside the bubble to take out the now cleaned plate and examines it carefully, her eyes wide in awe. Then she snaps out from her daze and turns to me with a smirk.

"That's some interesting alchemy you have there; it's almost like that bubble of water is a washing machine. Too bad that you're leaving tomorrow; this old woman could use this kind of help with the dishes." I laugh lightly at Pinako's joke and put another plate into the bubble.

"I don't think you need that much help; you have Winry-chan after all. I just wanted to see if my alchemy could work for these kinds of things, and it does! I can control water however I want just by clapping my hands; I have no idea why I can do alchemy without a circle, I just can."

We fall into a comfortable silence as we continue to wash the dishes, with Pinako drying instead of me. After a while, Armstrong walks into the room and is about to say something before he stops and stares at my water bubble in awe.

I wave enthusiastically, forgetting that the bubble is following my hands' movements, which results in it splashing some of its contents around the kitchen because of the sudden movement. I gasp in surprise, quickly move my hands to the sink, apologize to Pinako and continue to clean the dishes like no one is looking strangely at me.

When I'm done with cleaning the dirty dishes, I make the dishwater drain into the sink together with my water bubble. I dry off my hands on a towel hanging inside the kitchen, but just when I'm about to go upstairs to go to bed, Armstrong blocks my escape with his arms crossed over his big chest.

He wears a serious expression on his face, which is why I tilt my head a little in confusion; why is he so serious?

"Uhm… Major Armstrong? Is something wrong?" I ask him innocently. Armstrong towers over me dangerously, proving to me just how very small I am, and says sternly:

"Miss Gloria. That was your alchemy, correct?"

I squeak out a small 'yes, sir' in reply and shrink even more under his serious stare. After letting me sweat for a while, Armstrong begins to smile brightly and pat my head with so much force that it almost makes me face plant into the floor.

"That was some amazing alchemy miss Gloria!_!_ I've never seen anything like it before!_!_ You're truly amazing!_!_ Your father would be so proud of you if he could see what you just did!_! _Is that an alchemy that runs in the family like mine does?"

I rub my head in pain with unshed tears in my eyes as I look up at the now passionately crying alchemist. "Maybe… but I'm not really sure… I think I'm the only one who's able to control water like that, and even if I'm not**, **I don't think that anyone else in my family can do it without a transmutation circle…"

"Without a transmutation circle!_!_!_?_?" He exclaims in surprise and awe before he captures me in a tight hug against his now naked chest. "Amazing, how the young ones are becoming so skilled in such a short time! Your alchemy is almost as powerful as the Armstrong family's! You truly are a prodigy, just like the young Edward Elric!"

I struggle to breathe in his tight grasp, but manage to wheeze out 'air' to the almost bald man, which makes him release me to land in a heap on the floor. I don't like Armstrong's hugs very much; they really hurt. Now I understand why Ed and Al freak out every time they see him; both because of his extreme hugs and his… abnormal personality or whatever you can call it.

I chough for a few seconds and try to regain my breath before I shyly grin up towards the big man while pushing myself up in a sitting position.

"Can you keep it a secret Major? I-I don't want the military to take a big notice of me. If they do, they might think that I've done the taboo like Ed and Al. I'll make a wristband with my alchemy circle on it as soon as I can, to cover it up, so can you please not mention this to anyone?" I ask him politely while scratching the back of my head.

Armstrong strikes a pose with his shirt still off, showing his big muscles. "Do not worry miss Gloria!_!_ Your secret will be safe with me!_!_" I nod my head in appreciation and say brightly, "Thank you Major!" before I slip past him and up to Winry's room where I'll spend my last night here in Resembool. "See you tomorrow, Major! Goodnight!" I call over my shoulder before I close the door quietly behind me.

Winry isn't in her room at the moment, so I guess this is the time of the scene where Alphonse is thanking Winry and Pinako for accepting him and his brother as family. I change into my pink tank top, which I now use a pyjamas, and cuddle up in my mattress to fall asleep.

But before I'm able to do that, I can hear Winry enter the room. I don't want to open my eyes just yet, so I simply listen to the sounds of Winry getting herself ready for bed. Soon, the sound of rustling clothing stops and I can hear footsteps close in on me; I pretend to be asleep as she softly strokes my orange hair, now loose from its ponytails. I can hear her sigh sadly. Then she quietly speaks to me, like she's afraid that I will wake up.

"I wish I had a little sister like you… Too bad you'll leave tomorrow. Make sure that the boys are safe; I know that they always get themselves into trouble, so someone has to keep them in check. I just hope that you won't be dragged into their trouble as well; I don't want you to get hurt…"

I can hear that she's really sad, so I decide to cheer her up a little while still pretending to be asleep. I snuggle into the covers some more, making Winry freeze in fear of waking me up, and mumble softly "Winry… Nee-chan…" I can hear her gasp quietly in surprise before she begins to stroke my hair again.

"I hope we'll meet again soon, Gloria-chan…" She mumbles softly with a smile in her voice before she gets to her feet and walk over to her own bed to sleep. I smile softly, making a silent promise that I'll make sure that we'll meet again, before I fall asleep.

That was the first night in this world that I didn't have any nightmares.

The next day, I wake up really early to be able to cook a good breakfast before I, Ed, Al and the Major will depart. Edward, Major Armstrong, Alphonse and Pinako joined me right when the pancakes where done and we ate quietly in the early morning.

Shortly after breakfast, everyone except Winry is standing outside the house to say our goodbyes before we depart to catch our train.

"Thanks for everything, granny." Ed tells Pinako while I am hugging said woman goodbye tightly, a little teary for saying goodbye to her.

"I'm so glad that I could stay with you! And thank you for showing me auto-mail! I can't express how grateful I am right now!" I say loudly while rubbing my chin against Pinako's head in sorrow. Pinako only manages to grunt in reply due the lack of oxygen - noticing this, I quickly let go and apologise for hugging her too hard.

Al has just said goodbye to Den as he stands up and asks Pinako in confusion, "Huh? Where's Winry?"

"Her last few nights have all been all-nighters, so I bet she's exhausted. Want me to wake her up?" Replies Pinako, but before I could say that we should let Winry sleep, Edward grabs the top of my borrowed backpack and proceeds to drags me away from their house while waving lazily with his other hand.

"Nah, don't worry about it. She'll just keep on ranting about maintenance and all that stuff." I wave my arms around in protest as I begin to whine loudly, just to irritate him.

"But Edwaaaard! I want to say goodbye to Winry-chan!_!_" "Well, too bad for you." He snaps back and continues to drag me towards the station.

"Hey, you three." Pinako says, which makes Ed, Al and Armstrong stop and turn around. She's smiling with the pipe in her mouth and Den sitting beside her. "Stop by for a meal every once in a while, will ya?"

I look up at the two boys expectantly, waiting for their answers - even though I already know what they're going to be. Alphonse nods and says; "We will" while Edward says in amusement; "Heh. Coming to a place so deep in the mountains just for a meal?"

I raise my hand high in the air as I exclaim, "I would love to come back sometime!" Pinako grins widely at our replies.

"Ed, Al, Gloria." A tired voice calls from the balcony upstairs which makes us all look up at a really tired Winry with her hair all messy and un-done. She waves tiredly while saying, "Have a safe trip…" Edward scratches the back of his head in embarrassment while turning around, still holding onto my backpack. After a few seconds, he raises his hand over his shoulder as 'goodbye' while calling back; "Sure."

That's when I begin to protest.

"Edwaaaaard!_!_ I want to say goodbye to Winry-chan!_!_! Come on, can't I at least hug her? Please?_!_!" I whine as I once again wave wildly with my arms, but not trying to resist his grip since I know that he's stronger than I am.

"No." He says sternly and keeps on walking. I pout and cross my arms over my chest, mumbling grumpily "You're no fun" before I scream at Winry from afar.

"Winry-nee-chan!_!_! See you soon!_!_! I'll come and visit you again, I promise!_!_!"

Winry was just about to walk inside as she heard my scream, but she stopped to wave back at me with a soft smile on her face. After she went inside, I turn around slightly to look up at Edward, who's still dragging me along**,** with my heels dragging along the ground.

"You know Edward… You can let me go now…" He looks down at me with a surprised face, like he didn't even notice that he was dragging me with the same hand he holds his suitcase with, before he lets go of my backpack. I land pretty hard on my butt, but even so I stand up immediately to walk beside the three men.

I see a small pond by the road and decide to play a bit with my alchemy on the way to the station. I clap my hands to make some of the water remove itself from the pond and come towards me. As I take notice of the fact that we are near the top of the hill, I get a brilliant idea.

I grin proudly to myself while I make different shapes with the water in my hands. Edward looks down at me with a raised eyebrow at my grin as he asks me suspiciously;

"What are you planning now?" I shake my head with a giggle and continue to play with my water without answering him. He looks suspiciously at me for a while more before he looks ahead of himself again.

You see, my brilliant idea is to make an ice-skateboard out of the water and roll down the hill to get to the station before the others. It would be good to practice, since it could probably become a great way to escape sometime. I don't like to admit it, but I'm not a very good runner…

I have never gone skateboarding before in my whole life, but I have been snowboarding a few times, even though I've never succeeded to stay upright for long. Taking that in consideration, it will probably only be a matter of time before I trip off the ice-board (hey, ice-board is a nice word). But I will try anyway, because if you never try anything, you can never accomplish anything, either.

So when we reach the top of the hill, looking out towards the small town where the train station is, I stop and wait until a big gap is formed between me and the other three. When I judge the gap as big enough, I imagine the water forming itself into a skateboard and then solidifying into ice.

The water does just that and I'm soon holding a brand-new ice-board in my hands. I look at the four wheels and spin each of them to make sure that they're spinning as they should before I place the board on the ground in front of me. I carefully place my feet on top of the board, but I slip due to the slippery surface and land on my side.

Luckily, the ice-board wasn't pushed so far enough away to reach the edge of the slope, so it's still pretty close to me, instead of rolling down the hill without me**.** I stand up, brush off some dirt from my brown pants and try to stand on the board once again, but this time I make some of the ice melt and then freeze again, to hold my feet into place.

I don't fall, much to my relief, but now I face another problem. Since my feet are stuck onto the ice-board, I can't kick off…

I quickly solve this problem by releasing one of my feet from the ice and then I'm free to carefully kick the ground, making the ice-board go over the edge of the hill and down the slope. I place my loose foot back onto the ice-board and freeze it there once again as I roll down the hill, gaining speed quickly. I am beginning to catch up to the three men/boys walking ahead of me.

I soon begin to notice that skateboarding isn't the same as snowboarding; you have to tip your body even more to make it turn (1)**.** I'm beginning to close in on the other three and considering that I still don't really know how to control my turns, I'll probably crash into one of them if they don't move away.

I have awful balance… If I feel like I'm about to fall one way, I lean too much towards the other and then I'm about to lose my balance towards that direction instead. It's an evil cycle… Every time, I start leaning more and more**…** (I know that I've been a gymnast, but that doesn't mean that I have perfect balance… It was a long time ago, ok?_!_)

"Out of the way! Coming through!" I scream. Ed, Al and Armstrong get out of my way just in the nick of time as I swoosh past them, screaming in panic as I'm trying to hold my balance.

"What the hell?_!_" I can hear Ed scream after me in surprise and shock. "Gloria!" Al exclaims in horror, and I can hear his hollow footsteps run after me, the other two following him soon afterwards.

It was then that I started to remember the balance training I did during my time as a gymnast and together with Raven. _I have to bend my knees! That's it!_ I think in glee.

When I do so, my balance immediately becomes a bit better than before. And just in time for the first turn, too.

I lean most of my weight towards my right, in order to turn that way, and manage to avoid the three males, who start running after me. I can hear Ed shout for me to stop, but I just wave a hand over my shoulder to tell him that I'm okay now and continue to drive down the road at a fast pace, still wobbling a little.

The hardest obstacles I have to face are the stones I have to avoid on the road, but I manage to survive the turns… for now… It's actually fun to be skateboarding after you get used to it, but I don't think that I'll become a professional anytime soon…

When I'm close to my goal, the train station, I can feel relief wash over me. I have managed to remain standing on top of the ice-board the whole time, which is a great accomplishment for me, even though my feet are stuck. If it continues like this**, **I think that I'll be able to drive the whole way to the station.

But, of course, due to my clumsiness and un-luckiness, I just have to trip and fall at the last turn just next to the station… That's so typical… I scrape my knees and hands when I try to ease the fall and get stingy scrapes with dirt inside of them. Damn…

I have to wait ten minutes before my travelling companions reach the station as well. During this time, I've already cleaned my wounds with the water that I used to create the ice-board earlier before I put it into two bottles that I found on the ground. I then use the leftover water to freeze the bottles to my fishnet gloves, which I still have tied around my waist even though I don't need them anymore.

When Edward spots me sitting casually on a bench by the station, he immediately becomes angry and stomps over to where I'm sitting. When he's in front of me, I don't dare to look into his eyes in case that would anger him even more.

"What was all that about?" He asks me sternly. I wince slightly at his harsh tone as I slowly look up from under my bangs to meet his angry gaze. After a brief moment of contemplation about what to do in this situation, I choose to hug him around his waist while crying slightly to get a more 'innocent' effect.

"I'm sorry Ed! I just felt th-that I had to practise on skateboarding! You saw how fast that thing went? It can be a great way to escape danger if I have to. I've never been good at running, so I had to find out a new way to escape fast without using my legs. That's why I came up with the skateboard. But I still have to practice since my balance is horrible… I'm sorry to leave you like that! I didn't know that I was going to drive off so fast!_!_"

He seems to be stunned about that I'm hugging him all of a sudden, but makes no move to pry me off of him during my rant. When I've waited for a minute or two without Ed saying anything, I look up to look into his eyes with big puppy-dog eyes. The embarrassed look on his face almost makes me laugh, but I manage to keep my puppy-dog eyes intact.

"Do you forgive me for leaving you behind?" I ask him pleadingly.

A small, almost unnoticeable blush covers his cheeks as he pats my head while looking away. I take that as an 'I forgive you', so I let him go with a cheer and proceed to apologise to Alphonse and Armstrong for going off like I did.

Alphonse scolds me for making him worry about me, while Armstrong praises me for my amazing speed. I cheer once again and twirl in a circle in happiness just as the train arrives at the station.

Now, off to Central we go! We're about to do some research on the philosopher's stone!

Hey… That can make a good song… If you add those two sentences to the 'follow the yellow brick road' melody… Maybe I should sing it just to annoy Ed…

So I start to sing the song quietly once we've been seated on the train, and the train starting to move.

"Off to central we go, off to central we go. Off to, off to, off to, off to, off to central we go. We're about to do some research, on the philo-"

When Edward notices which word I was about to sing, he quickly interrupts me by covering my mouth with his hand. "Are you crazy?" He hisses angrily at me. "You can't say that out loud, you idiot!"

I pout underneath his hand and cross my hands over my chest, clearly sending the message 'you're no fun'. Edward just rolls his eyes and leans back into his seat, which is the one opposite to mine, with a table separating us.

I stare out the window for a while, watching the green fields pass by with my chin resting in my hand, before I turn to the Major beside me. "Major, do you think there is a food carriage on this train?" I ask him innocently while tilting my head a little.

Armstrong looks up from his book and answers politely, with his ever-present sparkles surrounding his face. "I'm sure there is, Miss Gloria. Do you want me to get something for you?" I nod my head happily with bright sparkles in my eyes. "Yes please, some candy would be nice."

Armstrong stands up from his seat with a salute and asks Ed if he wants something, to which he replies with a lazy 'No' before the large man walks away. The moment Armstrong is out of sight, I stare at the brothers seriously, leaning back in my seat while crossing my arms.

"So, what are you expecting to find out once we're in central?"

Like every other time, they're taken aback about my sudden change in mood when I drop my act, but they quickly compose themselves and Edward answers my question just as seriously.

"I'm not really sure, but whatever it is we find, it will get us closer to our goal. We'll do whatever it takes to get our bodies back." Al nods in approval at his brother's words.

I shake my head with a small smile that doesn't reach my eyes. "I'll just warn you. This thing isn't called the devil's research for nothing…"

Just when Al's about to ask something, Armstrong barges through the carriage door with a bag of candy in one hand and a bottle of orange juice in the other. "I'm back with your candy miss Gloria!" He says loudly as he marches up to our stall. I smirk at the irony of his perfect timing before I turn around in my seat to greet Armstrong with a big, happy smile.

"Thank you Armstrong! You're so nice!" When he sits down in the seat next to me, he gives me the bag of candy. I thank him once again while hugging him tightly. Ed glares suspiciously at me, but I just wink at him before I throw one of the candies into my mouth. I squeal in delight at the sweet taste of the candy in my mouth before I turn to look at the scenery outside the window once again.

If I had known what would happen during that train trip, I would never have eaten all of the candy.

* * *

><p>1: I'm not personally skateboarding or anything like that, so I'm not sure if what I wrote about it here is true.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Hello everyone! I'm SeaDevil, Meatbun Attack's beta! I've been beta-ing her stories for a while now (this one since the beginning, <em>Blank Mind<em> since chapter 6 and the most recent chapter of _The Time Assassin_, which I have committed myself to beta in the future, too) so I figured that I'd better say hi and claim some credit.**

**If you haven't read Bun-bun's other stories yet, go do so. They're all awesome.**

**That said, I shall shamelessly use this space to promote myself. Please visit my profile and read my story (_Beast Queen_, a ½ Prince fanfic) if you have some free time! Feel free to PM me, too, if you want ^^**

**Oh, yeah - before people become confused: so far, I have not once managed to find myself via the author search function, so please go via Bun-bun's favourite authors to find me.**

**That's also the way you should use to find me if you want to complain about the updating speed of any of Bun-bun's stories. Because that's what you should do when you think her updating is taking too long – complain to me. Because mostly Bun-bun has her chapters finished up pretty quickly, but then she hands them to me for beta-ing and then…**

**Well…**

**I never get around to beta-ing them quickly… resulting in slow updating speed for her stories. I feel a bit bad. I really do. So any complaining should be done to me, not her, you hear?**

**See you around!**

**/SeaDevil**

My beta-reader is the best to put up with my long chapters~! :D

Oh, and I'm thinking about making a one-shot, but I have no idea what it should be about… Should it be the first time Raven went to an amusement park with Raven? Or about the trip to New Zeeland? Or a different moment in her childhood? Or just a one-shot of pure randomness?

See you soon, and remember to review~! I might share you some chocolate if you do~! ^^


	6. Sorry! My first Author Note!

**At least read the bold text!**

Hi everyone! How are you? ^^

I'm sorry that this isn't a real update… :( But school is busy for both me and Seadevil, my beta, so neither of us has much time to write… And both of us are a little lazy when it comes to writing… ^^"

But, why I'm updating this author note is to ask you guys what you think I should write about for this story's 'birthday'. It will be a chapter that I will hold a 'secret' to my beta so I won't send the birthday chapter to her to beta read. So it might have a few grammar faults, but I'll make sure that I'll do my best! :)

So, what do you think?** Should I write a birthday chapter to the story? If so, do you have any ideas? Or do you want to have a sneak peak on future chapters? Or do you want me to explain something? Or should I write a scene of pure randomness? :/**

**Review** or **PM **me to suggest something! I will give a special announcement to the one who comes up with the greatest idea and I'll also use that idea in the birthday chapter! ^^

**REVIEW!**

**(And vote on my poll for Glorias alchemist name!)  
><strong>


	7. Bithday chapter

Hi everyone~! I'm back! :D

The birthday chapter is finally done! I can't believe how hard it was to come up with what Gloria should do.T-TDoctorwhotaliaandtheolympia ns came with a great idea, so I started writing… But the problem was that I had no idea what she would do during the day…

I just couldn't come up with anything! D: I want to show you guys how Gloria's real personality is, and not the one she acts like, but it's just so hard to come up with something to happen so that her real personality can be shown! I had a real hard time coming up with anything! DX

So that's why this birthday chapter is so late… -sigh- Why can't I finish anything in time? TT-TT

Well, anyway, back to the story! This one-shot will be during the time when they wait for Marco's notes to be done and the days where Gloria will study to the state alchemy test. (Yes, she will take it and the poll's still up.) And when Gloria came to Central, she finally created that bracelet that she's thought about making. That bracelet helps her a lot with controlling her alchemy and you'll see the results after 'That' happens. You'll know what 'That' is if you continue reading. ;)

(I don't really know if Ed or Al are OOC, I haven't watched Fullmetal Alchemist for a long time… ^^")

So, here it is! Happy birthday '12 again?' ~^0^~

PS: I was really lazy when it came to correcting my grammar and stuff, just so you know… -_-"

Edward and Alphonse are staring at me in slight surprise as I'm sitting calmly in front of them with my arms crossed over my chest. The plate of pasta standing on the table in front of me has probably gone a little cold since I've left it alone for about 15 minutes. Edward and Alphonse have asked me a lot of questions about alchemy, just to prepare me for the test that I'm supposed to take in 8 days. During these first two days, I've read books about alchemy, that Edward has picked out for me, almost non-stop to be prepared for the theoretical test. I finished them all today and the two brothers decided to end the theoretical part with an alchemy quiz of sorts.

"Wow, I'm impressed that you remember that much from those alchemy books. There were at least 20 of them, if not more. And for you to finish reading them in just two days…"

Edward shakes his head with a small smile after he has said that, soon beginning to eat on his many plates filled with food. I shrug my shoulders lightly, as if it's no big deal and grin happily at the older brother as I pick up some pasta with my fork.

"What can I say? It's awesome to have photographical memory."

I can hear a faint 'clank' when Alphonse armor shifts slightly to look down at me. I meet his glowing eyes with my own when he starts to speak, a few strands of pasta still dangling from my mouth.

"You have photographical memory? That's amazing."

I shake my head, chewing and swallowing my food before I emit a nervous laugh and lean back on the red sofa I'm sitting on. I avoid their gazes and instead watch out the window which is to my right and look at the people who are passing by.

"I do agree that it's amazing to have photographical memory, but it doesn't always work with every single piece of information I hear or see. It has to be something that I'm interested in for it to work. I've tried to remember every single detail of my homework in the past, but it just wouldn't work. I've had this as long as I can remember, but I don't know why. I mean, no one in my entire family have had photographical memory…"

I glance at the brothers out of the corner of my eye to see how their reactions are. The sight that behold in front of me makes my eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Edward keeps on shoving food down his throat, as if he hasn't heard what I said at all, and Alphonse is looking out the window with a far-away feeling to him. Either they've been doing that since I started talking, or they began just now to make me annoyed at being ignored. I would expect Edward to do something like that, but for Alphonse to do it as well?

A deep sigh escape from my mouth to calm me down, I will not become annoyed by being ignored. It does happen so there's no use in getting worked up about it. And besides, they must have listened to me at least a little...

I nod in approval to my thoughts and continue to eat the pasta with my eyes focusing only on the food. After a few minutes of eating, I'm done and look up to the two brothers to see how far Edward has gone with his massive portion of food. Much to my surprise, he's already done with his food and is contently patting his stomach as he's leaning back in the red sofa that he and his brother are sharing in our booth.

I snort slightly in amusement, I knew that he was a fast eater but I would have never thought that he was actually this fast. He ate six plates of food during the same time as I ate one plate, and we both finished at the same time. He looks ridiculous with the row of plates in front of him and food around his mouth. But… He also looks kinda cute… No, bad Gloria! Don't think like that!

To steer away my thoughts from thinking that Edward is … that, I stand up from my seat and smile happily when they both look up at me.

"Come on! Let's go! You've promised me chocolate when we got back to the hotel!" I exclaim happily, putting up my act where my voice a little more high-pitched than when I'm speaking normally.

Edward grumbles something irritably under his breath while he too stands up at the same time as his little brother does. It sounds like 'And now she's like that again', but I can't be too sure. We pay for our food to a waitress who comes to our table when she saw us stand up, I wave good bye to said waitress happily as the three of us exit the restaurant.

I sigh heavily as I throw myself on the couch inside our room. During the whole dinner, I felt completely fine, but now I feel strangely drained. It feels like I can fall asleep any second now.

With a lot of effort, I force myself to get up from the comfy couch to at least take my shoes off and change into my 'Pajamas' which consist of only my purple tank-top that I came here in and my undergarments. Of course I'm hiding my undergarments since there are two teenage boys in the room, so don't think that just because I'm tired I'll show my body to them! I'm too lazy right now to walk over to the bathroom to change like I usually do, so don't judge me. And besides, what is there to see? My movements are sluggish as I'm changing and, of course, Al is being so very kind to notice my sluggishness immediately.

"Are you alright Gloria?"

I glance at him tiredly before stifling a huge yawn with my hand. I look at the clock hanging on the wall to see what time it is, and to my surprise, its only 7 Pm! How the fuck can I be this tired so early?_!_

My gaze once again settles itself on Alphonse as I begin to pull out my ponytails from its bindings to let it fall loosely to my back.

"I don't know… -yawn- I feel strangely tired… I can barely keep my eyes open…"

I yawn again as I begin to walk towards the couch again, the only couch which is occupied by Edward. Said alchemist glances at the clock before he looks at my tired face with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Isn't it a little bit too early?"

I don't answer him but instead sit down beside him and then settle my head in his lap while pulling out my second ponytail. I can feel Edward become stiff at my actions, but I'm too tired to care for the moment.

"Wha-What are you doing?_!_"

But I can't answer him as I've already fallen into the dream world, or at least I hope that's where my consciousness went…

**Third POV**

Edward sighs in annoyance when he sees that Gloria has already fallen asleep in his lap. Ed gives a pleading look towards his little brother, silently asking for his help. Alphonse nods in understanding and his clanking footsteps bring him over to the closet where a pile of blankets are placed inside of it. He picks up a blanket from a pile and grabs one of the couches' pillows to replace Edward's place under Gloria's head and to drape the blanket over her small frame.

Meanwhile, Edward is carefully lifting up her head from his lap so that he can stand up. When Alphonse has arrived at his brother's side, he places the pillow on the same spot that Edward previously sat on. As Edward lowers Gloria's sleeping form on the pillow, Alphonse is spreading the blanket over her bare legs and upper body.

Gloria continue to sleep peacefully throughout all this and when she feels the blanket fall over her, she mumbles quietly and turn over to her side so that she can curl up under the soft fabric.

Edward scratches the back of his head as he's looking down at her in confusion.

"I wonder what made her so tired all of a sudden…"

Alphonse nods in agreement at what his brother said while he's also looking down at Gloria, but in worry rather than confusion.

"Do you think it's because of the reading she's been doing? Maybe you gave her too many books at the same time so that she couldn't get any sleep?"

Edward shakes his head at the thought of her being tired just because of that before he looks up at his worried brother, putting his hands inside of his pockets in a relaxed way.

"Nah, she wouldn't get tired from just that. It must be something else, but we shouldn't worry about it. She'll be the same as always tomorrow." After he said that, he calmly walks over to his bed and sit down, waiting for his little brother to sit on the bed opposite to him. Alphonse leaves Gloria's side, still a little worried, and sits down in front of Edward to discuss about Marco's notes until it's time for Edward to sleep.

But none of them could have expected what would have happened the next morning when she woke up from her deep slumber… Or was Gloria really sleeping?

**First POV Gloria**

I wake up in the morning before Ed and Al, surprisingly, with an enormous head ache pounding in my head. I groan softly and turn over to my side, trying to ease my head ache by doing that but it comes with no results. It doesn't ease up one bit… I now notice that my head is lying on a soft pillow which matches the dark red couch with its dark blue colour. I also have a green blanked draped over my bare shoulders and legs. I don't remember putting a blanket on before going to sleep… But I do remember lying on something soft…

I smile softly as I realize that it must be the boy's doing. They must have put a blanket on me after I fell asleep, they're so sweet. But thinking like this won't ease my head ache either…

I groan again as I force myself to sit up with the blanket in hand. Maybe a shower will work; I might as well do that while Edward and Alphonse are still asleep. Ok, Al's not sleeping, but you get the idea. I rise up from the couch and wrap the green cloth around me to keep myself warm as I wobble slowly over to the bathroom, hunched over slightly in exhaustion and pain.

I wonder what that dream was about… It felt like I was dreaming, but yet I wasn't at the same time. I can't remember what I did during that time when I had my 'dream', but I do remember speaking to someone. But who was it? I just can't remember it anymore…

I close the bathroom door behind me softly and lock it before I turn on the shower to heat up the water. I fold up the blanket and place it on the toilet and proceed to take off my clothing. And for some reason my hips hurt… Oh, well, the pain will go away once I get into the shower.

With that thought in mind, I walk over to the shower and feel on the water rushing out from the spray nozzle. Deeming it warm enough, I walk in with a content sigh when the hot water hits my skin. It doesn't help me with my head ache, but it does help me with my hips and tiredness. I close my eyes and let the water wash over my face as well.

I shower for just a few minutes, seeing no use in standing in the shower for any longer since it doesn't help with my head ache and because I washed my hair yesterday morning. I walk over to the stack of white towels lying inside of the bathrooms cabinet, picking up two of them; one bigger one smaller, before I begin to dry off my body and using the smaller towel to dry my hair. I don't want to use my alchemy to do something as simple as this, which would be too lazy for being me if I were to use it through my almost daily routine.

I let the small towel hang over my head as I'm wrapping the big towel around my chest, not noticing that said area has gotten bigger throughout the night since I'm focusing too much on my head ache. I rub my forehead softly as I'm walking towards the door, picking up my clothes and blanket lying on top of the toilet on my way out. How did I get this kind of head ache? And there's still that strange dream I had… I just know it was something important about it, yet I can't remember a thing. It's so frustrating!

I sigh once again as I unlock the door and step outside into the slightly chillier hotel room that I'm sharing with Ed and Al. I look down at the sleeping Edward, lying sprawled out on his back with his cover thrown off to the side and his human hand scratching his bare stomach. I smile softly at the sight before I walk over to my backpack which is leaning against the wall opposite to the couch.

I pick up my bag and on my way back towards the bathroom I notice that Alphonse has gone out from his sleeping trance. I grin at him, momentarily forgetting about my aching head, as I greet him.

"Morning Alphonse. I hope you weren't too lonely last night when I fell asleep so early."

Alphonse looks up at me at hearing my voice, and he freezes up in shock. Wait… He hasn't needed to look up so high to meet my gaze before… Nah, it must be my imagination. I think I need chocolate to make me function normally because of this fudging headache.

I rub my forehead with my eyebrows furred in confusion at Alphonse's shocked stare.

"What? Is something wrong?"

Al was just about to answer when Edward takes this moment to wake up, yawning loudly as an interruption. He's rubbing the sleep out from his eyes as he looks over to his brother.

"Morning Al, morning Glo-wait, Gloria?_!_"

When Edward's gaze turns towards me, his eyes widen in shock and he becomes completely awake in a matter of seconds. His face also becomes a little red with his mouth slightly agape, completely loss for words. I get slightly annoyed, what is it that they think is so shocking about me that I haven't noticed yet?

I huff in irritation as I glare at the two boys, putting the hand that I'm not holding the bag in on my hip. For some reason, my hip feels a little different than usual…

"Alright, what is it that you two are so shocked about? Is it that you're seeing me in only a towel for the first time? Because I can tell you that this is no different than looking at a girl in a swimsuit."

Both of them shake their heads furiously and Edwards face becomes even red. If Alphonse would have had a face, I have no doubt that his face would have been the same colour. I glare even harder, now really wanting to know what's wrong with them at the moment as I demand to make the brothers explain themselves.

"What the hell's wrong with you two?_!_ Are you seeing something that I'm not seeing?_!_"

Both of them nod once again and I can faintly see their eyes travel downwards towards my breast. I blink in surprise at where they're looking but quickly become annoyed that those two are looking somewhere they shouldn't be looking at. They sense my annoyance and quickly look away, Edwards face succumbs to its red colour in embarrassment as they both point towards my chest area.

I blink in confusion for the second time and this time decides to follow their example at looking down at my breasts, to say that I'm shocked at what I'm seeing is an understatement. There, on my chest, are my normal sized breasts. My F cup sized ones! I hurriedly rush into the bathroom to inspect myself further without giving the boys any embarrassing views.

I lock the door, toss away the towel from my body to land on the floor and wipe away the fogging from the bathroom mirror. I look into my reflection with mixed emotions. Shock, happiness, confusion, happiness oh I said that already. But right now, I'm not looking at the 12 year old girl who has a lot of baby fat left to burn before she can be considered a teenager. Right now I'm looking into the reflection of myself, me as a 16 year old girl who looks like a young grown up with most of her baby fat gone. The me that I lost when I came here to Amestris. But why? Why now? What happened? Not that I'm not pleased with this outcome, but I just want to know how my old body came back to me. I haven't done something unnatural recently.

I look down at my breasts once again, poking them to make sure that they are real. I look at my ass to see that it's that normal big size as it's supposed to be and not the small one that I had yesterday. I'm still in shock as I try to comprehend what's going on.

I fell asleep yesterday, had a dream that I can't remember and now I'm back into my 16 year old body… I'm 16 again… I'm 16…? My body's back!

My face breaks into an ear splinting grin as I finally believe in what I'm seeing. I'm back! I'm really back! It's actually real! I really have gotten back my body!

I quickly put on my blue shorts which I've fished up from my bag and use a roll of bandages I have in said bag to create a makeshift bra before I put on my pink tank-top, the tank top still being worn inside out since my cat print would draw a lot more attention. My smile grows even brighter now that my home clothing fits me again and I almost squeal loudly in joy, almost. If I were to squeal in my current state, I would probably wake up the whole hotel.

I remember my fishnet gloves being my bottle holders which are still lying on the floor in the main room. So, after that thought, I quickly zip my bag shut, unlock the door and shoot out from the bathroom towards my gloves, smacking Edward with the door due to my hurry since he was about to knock.

When I finally reach my gloves, I snap my fingers to make the ice remove itself from the net fabric. I untie the knot that I've had them in for more than a week and slowly put them on, enjoying the feeling of the net clothing tickling my skin as it makes its way up to my elbow.

When both gloves are in their right place, I flex my fingers to make sure that the gloves will stay where they are. And they are, they're finally fitting on my arms again. I'm crying slightly in joy as I continue to stare at my flexing fingers with my wide grin still present on my face.

"I'm back…" I whisper softly to myself, while hugging my arms close to my busty chest, laughing happily. "I'm really back!"

I can feel a warm hand land on my shoulder and I smile brightly up at Edward, who's dressed in his usual clothes, and Alphonse, who's towering over Edward from behind him, both of them smiling softly at me. I quickly wipe away my happy tears and laugh again while I do so. I stand up and can immediately see that I'm now in eye-height with Edward, to which I smirk smugly at.

I lean closer to Ed with my smug smirk growing larger.

"Well, Ed? Now I'm not far away from your height."

Edward becomes a little surprised since this is the first time I address him by his nickname instead of his full name, but also because he realizes that what I said is true. Now, I'm only one inch from being as tall as him, just like I'm supposed to be. I laugh again as I glomp him happily, Edward stumbling back slightly because he wasn't prepared that I would suddenly hug him. I inwardly squeal in delight because I can now wrap my arms around his shoulders with no problem!

"I can't believe it! I'm really 16 again! Do you have any idea how this happened?"

I don't wait for a response from him as I run over to hug Alphonse. He's a lot steadier than Edward was, but it hurts a lot more to hug him than hugging Ed. But I can take a bit of pain; Al deserves as many hugs as he can get. Even though he can't feel my hug, it's the action that counts.

"Wow, this is so awesome! I'm a lot taller now!" Alphonse laughs quietly while patting my head, just like you do to a kid.

"Yeah, you are. But not by very much..."

I tense up in slight irritation and step away from Alphonse because of his insult. I huff as I turn my gaze away towards the window, a small vein popping on my forehead.

"If you say comments like that, I won't hug you anymore."

Alphonse stutters some kind of apology, but I don't listen as I watch him out of the corner of my eye with a small smile. He's just so sweet; he doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I really can't be mad at him for even saying something like that.

I turn my head to look at Edward, just to see what he's doing. He's looking at me with his eyebrows slightly furrowed and a small pink colour present on his cheeks, the same colour as the mark that I gave him on his forehead when I accidentally hit him with the bathroom door. He looks like he's in a whole other world right now with the faraway look in his eyes. I tilt my head to the side with a confused expression as I continue to stare at him. It takes him about three seconds to notice that I'm staring back at him, and when he does, his eyes widen in surprise and his cheeks gets a little more red tint to them in embarrassment for being caught. I just smirk at his reaction.

Edward quickly comes up with something to clear up the awkward atmosphere since Alphonse has stopped rambling apologies when he noticed that I looked at the older brother. Edward clears his throat before crossing his arms over his chest to seem more professional than before. Sadly, it doesn't have such a huge effect since he's still slightly pink in his face.

"How come you didn't flip out when he mentioned something about the 'taboo'? I'm sure that I would have been forced to hold you back from killing Al."

I frown when he mentions that, I wouldn't really kill a person for calling me small… I would just hurt them a lot… Maybe send someone to hospital, but not killing anybody.

I place my hands on my hips, staring hard into Edwards golden eyes as I answer his question.

"There are three reasons for that. One, Alphonse's too sweet and caring for me to ever hurt him. Two, I wouldn't in reality kill anybody for calling me the taboo word. Three, I don't 'flip out' when someone mentions that."

Both brothers get question marks above their heads; I look between them with an eyebrow raised as a silent question. What are they so confused over? Alphonse is the first to break the silence between us with a sweat drop slowly sliding down the side of his head.

"Ehm… Then what do you call it then when you get so angry?"

Now it's my time to frown in confusion while I tilt my head slightly to the side, why ask such a question? Isn't it obvious?

"Well, I call that being extremely annoyed of being called the same thing over and over. I can't really call that being angry, I think that real anger is something else. Where you want to hit something so bad that you don't know what you're supposed to do, you can't think straight, you don't listen to anything around you and you just want to be alone, that is what I think is anger. If I did become angry every time someone mentions something about the taboo, I think I would have gotten ill more often since I've read that uncontrolled anger can lead to sickness. So I don't see the way I react as the feeling 'anger', but I do believe that I felt anger when I faced Truth… It was slightly different from how my friends described it, but it must have been anger… But anyway, I don't become angry; I become extremely annoyed or irritated in my opinion. My view of anger is only a guess."

The older brother shakes his head in disbelief as he's staring at me as if he doubts that I'm not completely sane.

"You really like describing things, don't you?" Edward says with a confused frown.

I walk past him with a grin on my face, putting on my studded boots and walking towards the door with the brothers following me with their gazes.

"Yeah, I do. Why shouldn't I explain much when I have so much knowledge? Not like you notice the knowledge I have since I'm not someone who let words pass through my lips without thinking first. If I say just one tiny little thing wrong, the whole future might be twisted into horrible ends. I'm that kind of person who… reflects around things a lot. Some say I'm talking too much, some say too little. But one thing's for sure, I always have a reason for doing and saying what I do." I look at them from over my shoulder as I open the door to our hotel room, completely forgetting about bringing my water with me.

"And you've got to admit, it's interesting to listen to me, no? I have that kind of effect on people. So, come on, let's go!"

"Yes! This feels great!" I shout out with a laugh, my hands stretched above my head. "Now I won't get any more blisters from walking in my shoes!"

I'm happily walking down the street together with the Elric brothers, not having a real goal at the moment since I've already read the books I was supposed to read for the exam.

"If you get blisters from your shoes, why not buy new ones that fit you better?"

I look up at Alphonse with a weak glare as I let my arms fall down to my sides, placing them in the pockets of my blue shorts.

"Alphonse, I haven't let go of my home. There's no way that I would allow myself to wear any other shoes than these yet. I want as many things as possible from my home with me without taking the whole bag with me. Why else would I use my gloves as a belt instead of a real one?"

Edward lets out an 'hmm'-sound, making me look into his golden eyes which are filled with realization and curiosity. … I haven't noticed it before, but his eyes are really pretty… No, bad Gloria! I scold myself while mentally shaking my head to clear my thoughts. Don't think like that about Edward! He's your friend, nothing more and nothing less. He belongs with Winry anyway, so don't think you can have him like those girls from the fanfictions! Oh, man, am I beginning to like him more than a friend?_!_ No, that can't be true. I won't allow it to ever happen.

"Yeah, now that you mention it… You use the things from your world as often as you can and I have seen you make drawings of a detailed description on how to make advanced technology… Why still so attached when you've said that you know you can't get back?"

I sigh tiredly, avoiding his gaze to look up at the blue sky instead. Why I am still so attached? I really have no idea… Is it because I miss my family? Yes, anyone would miss their family in this situation but it can't be only because of that… Is it because my world is the one I'm most familiar with and I simply don't want to forget it? Yes, that could also be the reason. Maybe I miss the technology and that's why I've started to draw my blueprints. The technology could help us during the journey that Ed and Al are doing, but if I change too much, things could go bad… Why am I doing all this?

I end my thoughts with a sigh and begin to walk again to catch up with the two brothers; I didn't notice that I stopped walking during my inner conflict. As I catch up to the two of them, I decide to answer Edwards question with a very simple and short answer.

"I don't want to forget."

Edward glances at me from the corner of his eye, nodding to show that he heard me before he looks ahead of him again.

Yes, that's the reason I hold on to my old clothes. That's the reason I'm drawing pictures of my life, different anime and blueprints of different electronics that I've build throughout my life. I don't want to forget my world… I've already forgotten four years of my life and I don't want to forget any more than that. I have this feeling in my stomach that my memories from my world will gradually disappear… I'm afraid of losing more of my memories… Why I have this feeling, I have no idea. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

I look around myself, trying to spot something that holds any interest at the moment. I can't find anything yet… What will I do now that I'm 16 again? It's a little sad that I don't have to act like a kid anymore… Ok, I didn't have to act like a kid from the beginning since I could be a grown up kid like Edward, but it's so much fun to be a kid so I couldn't pass out the opportunity to act like I was 12 or younger.

But now that I'm 16, will I just do the things that I normally do? … I guess so… I can't think of anything that could possibly change my situation now that I look older. What if my alchemy is stronger now that I'm 16 again? Nah, I don't think that's possible. Alchemy can't become stronger through age. Easier to control, yes, but becoming stronger? No.

Well, I should test it out at least to see if my alchemy has changed in some way. Oooh… But what's that over there? Alright, I'll test out my alchemy some other time. I've found an interesting shop.

With a large excited grin on my face, I run ahead of Ed and Al towards the store sign I've spotted. On the sign is an Erlenmeyer flask filled with some kind of substance. That must mean that it's either an alchemy store or a chemistry store. I hope it's the latter, because then I can experiment a little and try to control it with my alchemy. If I could make an acid, that would be really awesome! Then I can use it against the homunculus when they appear.

I open the door to the store and take a look around, my grin stretching even wider when I notice what kind of store this is. It is a chemistry store! Different kind of flasks filled with both liquid and powder content and a lot of chemistry equipment fills the shelves of the store. I can recognize every substance once I've read the name of it, listing up in my head what kind of substances I can mix together to make a new one.

What? I'm a fan of chemistry, don't judge me! I also love math, technology, art and drama. I was born to be a scientist, that's at least what my parents have told me. I had a great future ahead of me thanks to me having a photographic memory. I hope they're alright back home…

I shake my head to get rid of my thoughts and focus on reading the labels of the flasks. If I start thinking about home, I'll just be depressed and not enjoy myself. Let's see… Woah, they actually have acids and bases that I've used before. Barium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, ammonia, formic acid and many more. And to think that this kind of store is so out in the open!

My eyes are sparkling happily as I continue to look from shelf to shelf, looking for particularly one acid that I know have a strong caustic effect on the human body. It's my favorite acid and I've been dying to use it sometime.

I don't notice when Ed and Al walk into the store, nor do I notice that I've been thinking out loud for a pretty long time with my thoughts running wild. Lucky for me, the employee isn't in the store for the moment. They are probably in the back fixing some things, how should I know what they're doing back there?

"Hmm… if I can't find it here, maybe I can create some sulfuric acid myself. I can mix up some water and sulfate together to create the acid. The method to make sulfuric acid was found in the 17th century so there should be some sulfate here at least…"

Edward and Alphonse are standing in the middle of the store awkwardly as I run by them from time to time, completely engrossed in my task on finding what I want.

"Ehm… Gloria?"

Alphonse asks me nervously as I once again run by them towards a shelf that I haven't looked through yet, but I ignore him completely and continue talking with myself. The brothers continue looking at me as I continue rambling on.

"Oh, come on! Why isn't it here? It's my favorite acid and I've actually been curious on how it looks when the human skin makes contact with it. I've heard that the skin will sizzle and disintegrate, but I want to see it for myself. And what better way than to use it against those things? There's no harm in that."

The brothers' exchange glances with each other, once again questioning my sanity. They're probably asking why I would be interested in seeing something like that. I would only hurt people if I do it. The Elrics gazes once again settle themselves on me as I suddenly shout out in glee.

"Yes! Here it is! I knew that a store like this would have sulfuric acid! They will sure be surprised when I use it against them, they wouldn't know what hit them! Since I can trap them in my water, it will be like a bath and their whole body will disintegrate… I wonder if this is the one with 65% concentration or 78% one… Or better yet, the one with 98%! I also could make the concentration even stronger by removing water from it, which would create fantastic results. The body would denigrate faster the stronger the concentration is which would result that they would die much faster. I wonder how it will look like… The skin would be peeled of first of course, then the muscles and the eyes as it gradually digs down to the bone. If the victim would accidentally swallow some acid it would also corrode from the inside out. But if the acid was only swallowed and don't make contact with the skin, would the victim die faster or would it become like an endless and painful tortu-. OW! Hey, what was that for?_!_"

I hold the spot where the pain is the strongest upon my skull, glaring angrily at Edward who's holding his fist in the air. His right hand… Oh, no he didn't just hit me with his automail hand and almost caused me to drop the bottle containing sulfuric acid! Oh, it's ON!

With his fist still raised, his mouth turns into that comical shark mouth as his eyes become completely white. Several veins pop on top of his head as he's glaring slightly down at me. Ha! Slightly down! You're not towering over me anymore!

"What's wrong with you?_!_ Thinking about stuff like that!_!_ How did you get out of jail?_!_ There's obviously something wrong with your brain!"

I straighten up from my hunching position to intense my glare but keep my face straight as several veins pop on my head as well. I've never been in jail, only been taking part of a trial and I wasn't even the one in trouble!

"Hey, my brain is perfectly healthy, thank you very much! And what do you mean 'talking about stuff like that'? I wasn't saying anything."

Alphonse decides to jump in with his hands waving wildly over his head, clearly upset about something. I keep my glare glued on Edward as Al exclaims with slight panic in his voice.

"Why were you trying to picture how a human body corrodes in acid?_!_ That's just crazy! Where did you get those ideas from?_!_"

"Are everyone from your world thinking like you do?_!_ That's one messed up community!"

I grab the front of Edward's jacket and pull his face closer to mine, starting to shout loudly in his face at the accusing he just made towards my world.

"What the hell?_!_ That's just messed up, why would you accuse my world just because of that! There are just as many people doing crazy stuff in my world as well as yours! If not even more here if you knew what's happening around here! These ideas come from my own brain and not some psychotic bastard; I actually have a very bright future on becoming a great scientist! And besides, even if I did it, it's not like there would be any real harm in it!"

Edward grabs ahold of my shirt as well as he screams back just as loudly as I did, causing our voices to almost echo throughout the whole shop.

"No real harm in it?_!_ You really are crazy! These are humans we're talking about! You'll kill people if you really do it! Don't you have any remorse?_!_ After all this time, you were a complete heartless killer?_!_"

I stutter in shock when he calls me the last thing he calls me, finally giving up on keeping a straight face as mine too turns into that comical angry face that everyone has seen so many times while watching anime.

"Heartless killer?_!_ I am certainly not a killer you bastard! If I am a killer then you are-!"

I'm cut off as a pair of big arms grabs hold of the back of both mine and Edwards shirts to pull us apart from each other. We are lifted off the ground and get the view of a very angry face of a large, muscled man wearing a mustache under his nose that's similar to the one Tessai from bleach has. Now that I look a little more closely, he looks almost exactly like Tessai with hairstyle, clothes and all except for wearing glasses.

"You all get the hell out of my shop! All your shouting is scaring off my customers!"

I and Edward nod quickly, intimidated by the man's hostile form as he quickly carry us both towards the shop's door, throwing us out after he has opened it with his foot. Edward and I lad hard on the pavement with a groan in pain. Alphonse runs out from the building shortly after us to check on how we're doing. Before the large intimidating man closes the door, he shouts down towards the three of us.

"And don't you dare ever show your faces here again! I don't want anyone fighting in my shop!"

With that, the man slams the door shut violently, making the glass rattle slightly from the force behind it. I force myself up on my knees, winching slightly at the pain I have on my right side that connected with the ground. After I've realized what the man really said, I turn towards Edward and point a finger at him in an accusing fashion.

"This is your entire fault! Now I won't be able to buy any sulfuric acid! All because you had to accuse my community of being twisted!"

Edward rises up from his face-plant, also pointing his finger at me once he's sitting on his knees.

"How can it be my fault when you would have been thrown out from the shop in the first place when he would have heard what you talked about?_!_ Why would you talk about that kind of stuff out loud?_!_ You're lucky that there weren't any other costumers in the shop at that moment!"

Alright… He want an argument fight, he'll get one! He's been asking a lot of questions so I should answer them for starters… He's going down!

With that thought in mind, I look down into the ground with a small grin forming on my face. I slowly rise up from the ground and meet his gaze once I'm on my full height, still wearing that grin on my face. Edward doesn't look that angry anymore, only very irritated now that I've stopped screaming at him.

"Oooh? Are you sure you want to have answers to those kind of questions? Fine, I'll give you the answers. It's because I'm a slight sadist."

Edwars eyes widen in surprise when he hears this and shares a glance with his little brother. He also rises up from the ground to stare at me in an even height; a few people have become interested in our exchange and stops around us in a small half circle.

"You are? Well, I wouldn't have expected that… Where are you going with this?" Edward asks me in suspicion, narrowing his eyes slightly to seem more intimidating with his brows furred in confusion. My grin only grows wider when he gives me the opportunity to explain myself. He will be speechless after this.

"What? You didn't know? Everyone is a sadist!" I finish my shortened explanation with waving my arm around the increasing crowd around us. Some gasp in shock and the people begin to mumble amongst themselves, but I keep my gaze fixed on Edward as he raises his eyebrow with slight shock in his eyes.

"What? No, I'm not a sadist at all. What makes you think that?"

I cross my arms over my chest, slowly shaking my head in disappointment and my grin disappearing from my face at his lame come back. He's going to get owned.

"You're obviously still in the denial stage, aren't you?"

I once again let out a sigh in disappointment as to empathize my words and to riel him up a little. My plan works and he actually gets angry, stomping his foot in the ground as he brings up a fist in front of him.

"Hey, I'm not in denial of anything! If anyone is in denial, it should be you!"

I flinch inwardly at how true his words are as I watch when Alphonse tries to calm down his brother. I smirk slightly as I start the longer explanation of my argument, shifting my weight to my right leg as I do.

"You clearly don't understand which kind of denial I mean since you're denying it. I'm saying that you're denying that you're a slight sadist yourself."

My comment makes Edward calm down immediately and his face changes from anger into confusion with slight stubbornness in it.

"I'm not even close to being a sadist."

I wag my finger in front of his face, making 'tsk' sounds in disapproval. I step back the few steps I stepped forward before, placing my right hand on my hip while the other is still lingering in the air and pointing up into the sky. I close my eyes and place on my 'smartass' face as the guys from my school called it, it always annoyed them that I could come with smart remarks so quick while looking like this so they came up a name for that kind of expression. With my nose raised high, I continue my explanation.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong dear Edward. Like I said before, everyone is a sadist whether they like it or not. I'm just one of those who have accepted it but not going full out as to do anything stupid like some does. Barry the chopper is one of them, he killed countless people, no? He accepted his sadism and took pleasure in satisfying it to the fullest. I just like to imagine doing things to people without making my thoughts into actions."

I open my eyes and glance at Edward's tense form, his brows furrowed and he's trying to piece together what exactly it is that I'm trying to say. I smirk as I look deep into his eyes, to try and see what kind of emotion he will express after my next comment.

"Say, how many times have you ever wondered something like this when you're holding a sharp object behind someone's back? 'What would happen if I stuck this through they're back right now?'"

I can see a flash of realization and horror in his eyes before it's quickly covered by a mask of anger. My smirk grows even wider when I notice that all the surrounding people have become quiet as well, as if all of them are debating with themselves if my words really are true or not. Edward doesn't seem to come up with a comeback after that, but that doesn't stop Alphonse to try and stop me from saying anything more.

"Gloria, I-I think we should go. It's not good to talk about this with so many peo-."

"Of course you've thought like that, who haven't?" I interrupt Alphonse, not going down until I've made Edward realize that's it's completely normal to think like I do. Edward glares at me for ignoring his little brother, but I meet his gaze calmly, not faced by his stare.

"Most people just shake away the thought just after thinking it and become slightly disgusted with themselves that they were even thinking like that. But a very few, those who have a mental issues, makes those thoughts into actions and actually do what their sadistic mind whispers to them. Barry the chopper is one of those persons. But there are also a few that listen to the sadistic side to a small degree and come up with theories on how it would be without really preforming it, sometimes they draw pictures and write theories on how they would feel if they did those things that they thought about. I'm one of those persons. But if I think about it too much, I might go out of control and actually do it at some point in my life so I wouldn't recommend to go to that stage. There are also those who know that they have a sadistic side to them and accept it, but still shove those thoughts to the depths of their mind but don't become disgusted for thinking like they do. And there are those who are in denial, those like you Edward, that completely ignore the whispers the sadistic side give you and become disgusted by the mere thought of ever doing such things or hearing about those kind of thoughts from another person. Did you know that my sadistic side has driven away bullies in the past when I spoke my thoughts and theories to them? It can actually be pretty useful to just accept that you're a sadist somewhere in your mind. Who knows, maybe it can help you some day?"

The people around us begins to talk amongst themselves again, their voices a little more shocked than before as if they're understanding what I'm telling them and debate which 'stage' they are in. But Edward stands still, glaring at me even fiercer than he did before but deep inside his eyes, I can see a small bit of doubt. I grin smugly at my accomplishment, tilting my head slightly to the side to make myself seem taller as I continue to look at him from the corner of my eye.

"Alright, we get what you're saying. Can we just please go now?"

I spare a small glance at Alphonse huge form and can almost feel the defeat rolling off him in waves as he's staring into the ground. A small twinge of guilt twists my heart as I look up at him, maybe I went a little bit too far… But once I meet Edwards stubborn gaze, that small guilt ebbs away once I see that he won't accept my words. I WILL bank this through his head so that he will never accuse me of thinking weirdly again.

My 'smartass' face once again takes its place on my face as I continue to look at him but without a grin this time.

"It's perfectly normal to think like I do, so don't accuse me of being 'heartless' or 'crazy' for thinking about those things. All humans have been like this and always will be, no one can be pure in their mind or actions, it's impossible."

Edward narrows his eyes at me and we stay like that for a few minutes, a tense silence lingering between us as the seconds pass by. Finally, after having a mental argument between us, Edward breaks eye contact and look to the side which results in a victorious grin getting plastered on my face.

"I can accept that not anyone can be completely pure, but I still think you're crazy that you're thinking like you do."

A vein pops on my forehead at his remark and I'm just about to speak another argument, Alphonse quickly runs over to me to cover my mouth, preventing me from saying anything else. The little brother bows apology towards the people who have gathered around us during my little speech and says a quick apology for making such a scene. Only then, I take the time to actually take a look at how many people I and Edward actually have drawn to us. I certainly didn't expect that we would catch the attention of this many people just by a simple argument of whether or not my way of thinking was crazy or not.

If I would have counted the people that are standing around us in a half circle, I would easily have counted up to at least 200 people. Some of them actually look a little disappointed that we're about to leave, as if they wanted to see me and Edward argument a little more than what we did. But most of them look actually a little confused as to what was happening here in the first place, certainly those who came a bit later than the ones who are disappointed.

Before I'm able to analyze the crowd any longer, Alphonse lifts me up by my waist to carry me under his arm and begins to walk away with his brother walking next to me. I yelp slightly in surprise when he lifts me off the ground, but I soon come to my senses and start to protest loudly.

"Hey! What's the big idea?_!_ I can walk myself you know! And why isn't Edward being carried?_!_ It isn't fair! Hey, don't grin at me like that! I totally grilled you with my arguments; you just refuse to believe me to make me irritated, right?_!_ I knew it! That face says everything! Hey, Al! Let me down so that I can beat him up! I need to bank some sense into him that all humans do have sadistic thoughts! Ugh! I didn't mean 'carry me over your shoulder'! Put me down right now! Argh, I don't have my water with me! You're both so dead when we get back, just you wait!"

"I'll give you some chocolate."

"Oh… Ok, on second thought… Being carried like this is just fine…"

"Pfft!"

"Hey, don't you laugh at me!"

_**Next morning**_

After I've woken up, I groggily open my eyes and let them get accustomed to the bright light of the sun shining in from the window. As I sit up, I scratch my head with a large yawn. Man, it feels like I've been sleeping for days… And I'm still dead tired…

I look down in my lap to notice that I have a green blanket over my legs which have slid down from my upper body when I sat up. I don't remember putting a blanket over me before I fell asleep… I smile softly as I realize that it must be the boy's doing. They must have put a blanket on me after I fell asleep, they're so sweet.

I look behind me towards the boys and surprisingly, they're still asleep. Ok, Al's not sleeping, but you get the idea. I rise up from the couch and wrap the green cloth around me to keep myself warm as I quietly walk over to the bathroom to take a quick shower. I know that I washed my hair yesterday morning, but I just feel like taking a shower before they wake up.

I wonder what that dream I dreamt was about… It felt like I was dreaming, but yet I wasn't at the same time. I can't remember what I did during that time when I had my 'dream', but I do remember that I felt different… But how did I feel different? Oh, well. It was just a dream anyways.

I close the bathroom door behind me softly and lock it before I turn on the shower to heat up the water. I fold up the blanket and place it on the toilet and proceed to take off my clothing. That dream did feel very real though… I shake my head with a small smile on my face. No, that's just silly. Why would anything happening in a dream ever be real?

I stand still to think about it for a minute, that's right… I've dreamt of always coming to the Fullmetal Alchemist world… And now that dream has come to reality… Maybe if I dream that I'll experience adventures here as a 16-year old girl, that dream might come true as well! With a shake of my head in disbelief, I walk over to the shower and feel on the water rushing out from the spray nozzle. Deeming it warm enough, I walk in with a content sigh when the hot water hits my skin. I close my eyes and let the water wash over my face as well to wash away the last bit of the tiredness in my body.

I shower for just a few minutes before I walk over to the stack of white towels lying inside the bathroom cabinet, picking one up before I begin to dry off my body and using a smaller towel to dry my hair. I don't want to use my alchemy to do something as simple as this, which would be too lazy to be me if I were to use it through my almost daily routine.

I let the small towel hang over my head as I'm wrapping the big towel around my chest, getting a sudden feeling of déjà vu as I do… I scratch my wet hair in confusion as I'm walking towards the door, picking up my clothes and blanket lying on top of the toilet on the way. I feel like something's missing… But what could that be?

I sigh in frustration as I unlock the door and step outside into the slightly chillier hotel room that I'm sharing with Ed and Al. I look down at the sleeping Edward, lying sprawled out on his back with his cover thrown off to the side and his human hand scratching his bare stomach. I smile softly at the sight before I walk over to my backpack that's leaning against the wall in front of the couch in the room.

I pick up my bag and I'm on my way back to the bathroom when I notice that Alphonse has gone out from his sleeping trance. I grin at him happily, once again getting the feeling of déjà vu as I greet him.

"Morning Alphonse. I hope you weren't too lonely last night when I fell asleep so early."

Alphonse looks up at me at hearing my voice, and he freezes up in shock. Why he does that, I have no idea. Sure, he hasn't seen me before in a towel, but there's nothing really interesting to look at…

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion at Alphonse's shocked stare, tilting my head slightly to the side.

"What? Is something wrong?"

Al was just about to answer when Edward takes this moment to wake up, yawning loudly as an interruption. He's rubbing the sleep out from his eyes as he looks over to his brother.

"Morning Al, morning Glo-wait, Gloria?"

When Edward's gaze turns towards me, his eyes widen in shock and he becomes completely awake in the matter of seconds. He's looking at me up and down at least three times before he points at me in bewilderment.

"What happened to you?_!_"

I huff in irritation as I glare at the two boys, putting the hand that I'm not holding the bag in on my hip. What are they so shocked about? Is it that I'm wearing only a towel?

"Alright, what is it that you two are so shocked about? Is it that you're seeing me in only a towel for the first time? Because I can tell you that this is no different than looking at a girl in a swimsuit."

Once again, I get the feeling of déjà vu as I say that, why does it feel like this situation has happened before?

The brothers look at each other in confusion before they look me up and down once again. Alphonse's the one to break the silence between us all.

"N-no, it's not that… It's just…"

Al never finishes his sentence as he awkwardly scratches his metal head in what appears to be confusion. I glare even harder, now really wanting to know what's wrong with them and I lose my temper.

"What the hell's wrong with you two?_!_ Are you seeing something that I'm not seeing?_!_"

This time it's Edwards turn to speak up.

"Have you even noticed what's happened to you? You're 12 again!"

I sigh tiredly, shaking my head at their stupidity.

"Oh, no, I'm so shocked. That's the biggest news of the century." I say sarcastically with a roll of my eyes. I then proceed to glare at the two boys who got me confused all for nothing.

"Seriously? That's what you're shocked about? I've been like this ever since I came here! And whether I like it or not, I have to accept that I will be a 12-year old for a long time. I have no idea how long it will take to get my body back, but you two got me all confused for nothing!"

I walk the last distance towards the bathroom door and walk inside without glancing at the brothers. As I've slammed the door shut and locked it, Edward raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"She doesn't remember anything from yesterday?"

Alphonse nod in agreement at his brother's words.

"Yes, I think so…"

A long silence is stretched out in the room as the two continue to stare at the door, the silence being broken when Edward speaks up.

"Maybe it's for the best that she doesn't remember."

Once again, the younger brother nods before looking at his older brother, shuddering slightly before he talks.

"Yeah, now she won't remember her plans of using the acid she talked about… Just thinking about it makes me shudder…"

Edward shudders as well and lies down on his tangled up bed again, running a hand through his golden bangs.

"Yeah, let's just pretend that yesterday didn't happen…"

And…. finish! I'm finally done! ~^0^~ If I would have known that coming up ideas for her to do during the day would take this long, I would have started on it earlier! I could have made more things happen during the day, I know, but I just couldn't come up with anything! TT^TT Hey, how about this: You guys can give me suggestions on what Gloria can do more during this day and then, when the normal chapters have gotten to this part of the story, I can repost this chapter with the new scenes inside! :D What do you guys think about that? ^^

Anyway, I'm really sorry for the long delay! I promise that I'll make it up to you by updating really soon, as soon as my beta has corrected my chapter. Again, I'm sorry for the birthday chapter being much later than I intended it to be. TT^TT

I'll see you soon~! :D


	8. Random moment

Oh my fudges! :D Hey, guys, have you seen it?! My story is a part of a community! I can't believe it! ~^0^~ It's a part of 'Fangirls are coming to town' and to know that my story is good enough to be added to any community makes me cry out of happiness, seriously! :'D Whoever added my story, thank you so much~! X'D

Oh, focus! I have a question to all of you: Should I announce everyone who reviewed the last chapter like I did before so that you reviewers will feel special when your pen-name is on the story? (I know I do, but I just wanna ask you first XP) So, do you want me to announce everyone who reviewed again? :D

This must be one of the saddest, and yet at the same time funniest, chapters I have written so far. The beginning will be funny (in my opinion) but the end will be really sad… T-T

Anyway, cherish this funny moment, and enjoy~! ^^

* * *

><p>"Hahahaha! I'm Indiana Jones! Da dada daaa, da dada!" I scream at the top of my lungs while running as fast as I can over the rooftops of the train, trying to get away from the tunnel (or rather the cliff it penetrates) which is slowly getting closer to where I am.<p>

By now,you must be wondering how I got into this situation, so let's have a flashback, shall we?

_Flashback - 10 minutes ago_

"I'm bored!" I whine loudly while leaning my head against the window with the empty candy bag placed in my lap. Edward is trying to sleep, but I won't let him until he can find something to keep me entertained.

Edward's eye twitch in annoyance as he snaps back, with his eyes still closed. "Well why don't you entertain yourself? Play a little with your alchemy."

"But Edwaaard! I've done that for 30 minutes already! And it's boring since I keep doing the same thing over and over because I can't come up with anything new! And I've already eaten all of my candy, so that can't distract me anymore! I need to do something! I have to get rid of all this energy I have! I'll go crazy out of boredom if it continues like this!"

His eye begins to twitch more violently and an angry mark appears on his forehead. "Well, what am I supposed to do about it?" He asks me grumpily. I just shrug my shoulders, replying with an innocent: "I don't know, you tell me."

That's when he finally opens his eyes to glare angrily at me while screaming. "Then figure something out by yourself! It's still 10 hours left, and I want to sleep! Surely you can think of _something_!" I shake my head with a blank look on my face.

"Nothing that doesn't involve doing something stupid."

Edward face-palms in anger and mumbles something like 'irritating girl' and 'why did I agree on this' under his breath. That's when Al saves his brother from death by bored twelve-year-old by jumping in and asking me if I want to play a game of cards with him. I, being (as earlier stated) completely bored, say yes to his offer.

After a few rounds of 'go fish', my vision starts getting blurry. I recognise the warm feeling spreading through my chest, but I can't place where I've experienced it before. I rub my eyes, trying to make my vision clear again, but it just makes it worse. I can hear Al's worried voice calling my name as I start to sway back and forth.

When I finally recognise what's happening, it's already too late. The only sentence I'm able to say as a warning is "Random's coming…" before my vision turns black.

Third POV

After Gloria quietly said the sentence "Random's coming…" her eyes turn dead. Al starts to panic and he begins to call out her name even louder than before while shaking her softly. Al's panicked voice gains Edward's and Armstrong's attention, and they both look at the dead-looking girl. When they see the state that she's in, they too try to bring her out of it.

Suddenly, Gloria leans over the table and hugs Edward tightly while screaming, "Eddie-kun!"

"Wh-wha-?" Ed stutters in surprise at her fast recovery, as well as suddenly being hugged for no apparent reason.

Gloria tightens her grip on Ed, almost suffocating him in the process. "Yay! I captured the best bishie! I don't care what everyone says! You totally kick that Cullen's butt! No one can beat the 'Fullmetal Alchemist'! Not even a super speedy blood-sucking hot guy!" She says loudly while rubbing her face against his. Ed, being very uncomfortable with the close contact and with leaning over the table, tries to slip away from Gloria's firm grip.

But that isn't necessary, because the moment she sees Armstrong sitting very close to her right, she changes her target. But instead of hugging him like she did with Edward, she jumps up on his shoulders and begins to play with his single strand of hair, giggling like crazy when the hair keeps bouncing up after she presses it down.

Al hesitantly reaches out to Gloria while asking her worriedly. "Uhm… Gloria? Are you alright?" Gloria stops playing with Armstrong's hair to look down at Alphonse. Alphonse stares in surprise as he notices that her eyes have changed slightly.

Her pupils have dilated a lot, revealing the chocolate-brown color surrounding the pupil in the middle which you usually don't notice. As she stares at Al, her eyes shine with interest and a slight glint of craziness.

She jumps off the Major's shoulders and stands on top of the table in front of Al, still not taking her eyes off him. She kneels down and knocks on his breast plate while saying in confusion,

"Al? You in there?" Al sweat-drops a little but replies nevertheless. "Uhm… Yeah, I'm here…"

Gloria gets a horrified expression on her face and she jumps down from the table, as far away from Alphonse as she possibly can while pointing accusingly at him. "Oh no! You've eaten Al! Get the torches and pitchforks ready! A man-eating tin-can is on the loose!" She screams loudly while running around in a circle, waving her hands wildly above her head.

Edward and Alphonse share a panicked glance because of her strange behaviour. Maybe she was right when she said that she could go crazy of boredom, but maybe she has a 'random moment' as she likes to call them. She said 'Random's coming' before, so that is a huge possibility.

Edward quickly stands up from his seat and turn towards the other passengers in the train while saying nervously. "Don't worry, this is normal for her. She tends to say a bit crazy things sometimes." Everyone glances at Gloria slightly, who's still running around screaming. After they notice how crazy she really is, they all slowly return to what they were once doing, deciding that it was best to stay out of it.

Alphonse and Edward sigh in relief that the passengers believe them, although now they have to face another, and bigger, problem; making Gloria stop.

"Oooh~! It's green~!"

When Ed and Al look at Gloria, they see her staring out the window as if in trance, looking at the green fields. She has her face pressed hard against the glass and she's sitting on someone else's table to be able to get close enough to see through the window. Or rather: to be able to get close enough to try to press herself through the window.

Al and Ed stand up from their seats in panic when she realizes that this is a futile endeavour and instead starts to open it so that she will be able to climb out from the safety of the train carriage.

"Gloria! You can't go outside!" Alphonse says worriedly while he hurries over to where she is about to climb out. Due to the fast speed the train is travelling at, the wind gets powerful enough inside the carriage to scare the passengers who are sitting in the seats next to the window. But Gloria doesn't care about the wind as she leans out and grabs the roof of the train to hoist herself up.

When Ed and Al reach the window she just climbed out of, she's already skipping towards the front of the train, completely oblivious to the danger of what she's doing. Edward starts to climb out of the window while yelling to Al.

"Al! Go to the front through the train, I'll climb up and try to bring her back inside!"

"Got it brother!" Al replies before he begins to run towards the front of the train while Ed climbs up to the roof.

On top of the train, Gloria's dancing and singing happily out of tune on purpose. As she's spinning around, she repeatedly only narrowly misses the edge of the roof, wobbling around like she's about to lose her balance any minute. She basically looks like a drunk person…

"_I'm singing on a train,_

_Just singing on a train._

_What a glorious feelin' I'm happy again._

_I am sugar high,_

_Like flying in the sky._

_I'm singing, singing on a train~!_"

When Ed sees Gloria dancing so near the edge, he starts to move as fast as he can towards her, fighting the strong wind that wants to knock him off of the train.

"Gloria!" He screams over the wind, but Gloria doesn't seem to hear him, since she continues to sing and dance randomly.

"_Mama she says roly poly,_

_Papa he says holy moly,_

_Everybody wants a chocolate!_"

Just when Edward is about to jump from his carriage to the one she's standing on, Gloria begins to dance away towards the front of the train. Ed stares at her in surprise, wondering how it is even possible for her to dance like that in the strong wind.

He looks down at her feet to see ice around them. _So she's using ice to steady herself… that explains it_. But Edward can get impressed later; right now he has to focus on catching Gloria and bringing her back inside.

With that thought in mind, Edward jumps over the gap between the two carriages and lands in a crouching position on the one Gloria is dancing on. He stands up and begins to run carefully towards her.

Gloria must have heard his footsteps, because she turns around to stare at him with her strange eyes just as she was about to jump over to the next carriage. When she stares at him, she must have thought that he was someone else, because she begins to scream in fear.

"Waaah! It's captain Hook! (1) I don't want my heart to be taken away! Help! No, wait. I have my secret weapon! Haha!" Gloria says before she claps her hand and transforms some of the ice she used to fuse her feet to the train into an old-fashioned alarm clock that she holds in front of her. Even though Edward is confused as to why she made a clock, he continues to advance.

Glorias expression turns from smug to fear and she turns the alarm clock back into her 'feet holders' once again while screaming, "The hooker is after me!" With that, Gloria turns around, jumps over the gap and starts running as fast as she can - away from Edward.

He decides to ignore the 'hooker' comment and starts to run after the panicking girl even faster than before. Gloria soon grows tired and slows down a bit, enabling Edward to catch up to her and place a hand on her shoulder to stop her from running.

"Finally! Gloria… let's… let's go back inside!" He says breathlessly while hunching over slightly. They are standing on the middle of one of the carriages' roof, both of them breathing heavily. Gloria nudges Edward a little in the side while pointing forward.

"Captain Hook, I want to run again." Edward gets angry and screams loudly, "Like hell I'll let you do that now that I've finally caught you!" When he notices that Gloria is still pointing, though, he looks over in that direction.

A tunnel up ahead has already swallowed the front of the train and is approaching them fast. Edwards' eyes widen in horror at the sight and lets go of Glorias shoulder. "You're right! Let's run!" He tells her in panic while grabbing her arm instead to drag her behind him towards the back of the carriage they're standing on.

The moment Gloria feels the tug on her arm she starts to run as fast as she can, swiftly overtaking Edward and tearing away from his grip.

_End of flashback_

Still third POV

"Hahahaha! I'm Indiana Jones! Da dada daaa, da dada!" Gloria screams at the top of her lungs in glee. Edward groans in annoyance when he notices that Gloria is not about to jump down into the next gap as Edward was planning to do.

Luckily, Al appears in the gap, just a few meters away from Gloria. A grin appears on Edward's face at his little brother's perfect timing as he shouts: "Al! Catch her!"

He said that just in time too, because just a few moments later Gloria is about to jump over the gap. Al grabs her while she's in the air and brings her close to his chest to hold her down. Edward joins them between the two carriages just in time, as the darkness inside the tunnel surrounds them soon after.

Both Edward and Alphonse sigh in relief at finally catching the crazy girl, while said girl is thrashing around, trying to get out of Alphonse'sstrong grip and screaming random things at the top of her lungs; not that either of them is bothering to listen to her, or would be able to understand her even if they did.

Alphonse turns towards his older brother and asks him; "What now brother? Do you know how we can bring her back to normal?" Ed sighs tiredly while scratching the back of his head.

"Well, this must be one of those 'random moments' she has warned us about. So we just have to stand here until it wears off, which it will if she stays on the same place for 15 seconds, according to her."

After a few seconds, Glorias movements becomes more sluggish, and then, when they're finally out of the tunnel, Gloria becomes completely limp in Alphonse's arms. Both of them become slightly worried at her lack of movement, but when they hear her soft snoring they relax, seeing as she's only asleep.

Alphonse shifts his grip on Gloria so that he's carrying her bridal-style instead of inthe hugging grip he was holding her in before as he and Edward begin to walk towards their carriage.

First POV Gloria

_Dream_

_I'm back inside the black void, __running__. __This time, however, __I__'m not in my 12-year-old body. No, I'm much smaller. __Another thing which has changed is that __nothing is chasing me; __instead, __I'm trying to reach something __before it is too late__. I don't know what __it is__ I'm reaching for, __though... __A path out of the void? __Or __am I, __perhaps,__ looking for someone? __I don't know. __The only thing I know is that I have to run faster, __even though__ I don't have the strength to do so._

_My heart is beating hard and fast inside my chest and my breathing is heavy and raspy. My legs are exhausted, like I've been running for hours, but I ignore the pain and continue to run forward; I have to hurry!_

_My surroundings begin to take some kind of form, an alley? __Tiled, __grey walls are __taking shape__ on either side of me __at the same pace as __the ground is forming beneath my feet._

_I almost __run__ into a wall __which appears __right in front of me, __but manage to__ skid to a stop __in time.__ I look to my right only to see a dead end. When I look to my left, __however,__ the path __continues__. I quickly begin to run in that direction, not letting my legs rest __for__ more than 3 seconds. __I feel that __if I rest, I won't be able to continue._

_I begin to notice and recognise some details of the alley I'm running __through__. This is the neighbourhood where 'that' happened… I'm dreaming of a memory…_

_Now that I know what will happen, I want to turn around and run the other way. I don't want to see that again, it was bad enough the first time! I don't want to see __it __again! I know that I'll __just __make it worse; why won't my body listen to me?_

_No matter how much I plead __for__ my body to run the other way, __or try to tell it __that it's __safer to stay away__, my body continues to run down the path. This is what I did back then; no matter what, I continued to run. I wanted to save her; it was my fault that she was there in the first place and I was determined to take her __away__ from __there, to make__ it __right__._

_I come closer to the park, __glimpsing __it in the distance, and I can feel relief and joy wash over me._

_No! Don't go in there!__ I scream inside my head, but of course my body __will not__ listen to me. This is, __after all,__ only a memory, __and my body can only repeat what actions it took in the past.__ But the dream jumps directly to the horrifying part __instead of replaying the full memory._

_My surroundings shift and __I can hear the leader chuckle evilly __from__ my right, __where__ he's looking down at my struggling form; I nervously __glance __up to meet his cruel green eyes with my own frightened grey ones. One of his __companions__ is holding __his foot on my back__, making me unable __rise from my prone position. Not only that, but it also hinders me from coming__ to __the other girl's __aid to help her up from __the kneeling __position __she has been forced into__ on the ground in the middle of the large ring __of people surrounding us._

"_So__ boys, what do you say about taking some revenge on this brat who humiliated us three days ago?" The leader asks __the others__ while looking down at me. I shudder in fear __at the__ crazy __look __his eyes get __at the happy cries from __his gang__._

_But it is not me __the leader slowly bends down towards__ once he moves__, __it is__ the 11-year-old on the ground __opposite me__. __The two men he had assigned to hold her arms behind her back to keep her down lets go of her as he grabs__ her long brown hair, __already __stained with her blood, to forcefully pull her up to her feet. She whimpers in pain at his forceful grip, but other than that she stays quiet._

_The leader __grins as he__ puts __his__ knife against her throat. "How about we torture this bitch in front of the brat? __If she knows that others will get hurt due to her stunts, then maybe she will think twice about crossing us the next time.__."_

_My eyes widen in horror as __the other men__ cheer in __something that would have been akin to__ pure joy, __had it not had a positively evil and mad undertone__. I start to struggle even more when the one holding me down forces my head upwards, __directing my gaze towards__ her bloody form. She starts to plead, much like I did before._

"_Please… Don't… not in front of her… You're all craz-"_

_She was suddenly cut off __as __one of the __men who held her down earlier__ punches__ her jaw. __I hear the sickening sound of bone breaking; his__ hard __brass knuckles __had been too much for her small frame to handle__. __As if that had been the starting signal, __the other members __pick __up different kinds of weapons to torture her with while the leader holds her in __place, making sure that she can't escape and that I __can see her __from where I am laying sprawled on the ground, grinning all the while__._

"_This is why you shouldn't mess with us."_

_After that, it was pure hell. I was __thrashing __wildly against the one holding me, trying to get away from him, but to no avail. I was forced to look as they beat her up. They start with breaking her fingers and toes, and then moving further up her body. Legs, arms, shoulder, hips, ribs, nose and every single bone that can be broken easily. She screams in the beginning, but after a while she doesn't have the power to scream anymore, she just twitches every time she gets a hit. I continue to struggle, __to try to get loose,__ but I'm too weak and __too __small to __be able to win__ against a __trained__ twenty-year-old man. __After a while, I can't take it any more. I close my eyes, even though it feels like a betrayal of sorts to do so. But I can't keep them closed for long. By now, the one holding me down has sat himself upon me, pinning my torso and arms against the ground and forcing the air out of my lungs - I can only take shallow breaths. This also results in me being unable to put my hands above my ears and block out the sounds. Oh, god, the sounds. It was worse just hearing it than seeing it. The screams, the wimpers, the moans, the crunching and snapping. The god-forsaken laughs, mocking words and shouts of joy contrasting against her pain. I opened my eyes again. __All things considered, it was better to see it, to know what was going on, than to be tormented by the uncertainty._

_At last__ they step aside to let me have a good look at her; I can barely recognise her anymore. __Her clothes are in a mess; torn and shredded, dirtied and bloodied. She has__ deep cuts and bruises covering her __entire__ body, her fingers, toes, arms and legs are twisted in impossible angles and some bones are even piercing the skin. __To me, it seems like a miracle that her small body is still functioning._

_The leader __looks __down at my sobbing form __cruelly__ as he __roughly__ drops her __down to__ the ground, making her scream in pain only to __cough__ up more blood to join the __large__ pool underneath her. __I wonder silently at the back of my mind how on earth she is still managing to keep her hold on consciousness. Most would have passed out from the pain by now._

"_This is why you don't mess with us. No matter what, we always win." He then __signals for the man on my back__ to let me go. __After he has done so, __I quickly crawl over to __the side of__ my most important person__, who is lying there on the ground, broken__. I can hear that the gang is laughing their asses off __as they walk away, leaving us alone__, but I don't care. The only thing I __care about__ right now is her face, __distorted __due to __a __really deep cut __going over one of__ her __eyelids, __making her unable to open it __and the swollen bruises which seemingly colors every inch of her skin. __Her jaw and nose are broken, too._

_I __find myself __unable to move as I__ stare into her eye, __seeing __the light in __it__ slowly drift away __as her blood continues to leak out onto the ground__. I shake my head in horror __and denial__ as I carefully cradle her face in my hands._

"_No… No, no, no! Please! Don't leave me! You're the strongest of us! I can't make it without you! I __won't__ know what to do if you disappear!"_

_She stares deep into my eyes and __as __she __starts __to __talk, I lean closer__, __placing__ my ear just above her lips, __to hear her__ barely audible __whispers__. "You can… reach for your dream… and mine as well… I know you can fulfil both… I… love you… more than a-anything… Don't… … die… you…"_

_She never got to finish __the __last sentence, __as__ her last breath escaped her lips and her eyes, which were __always brimming__ with life before all of this happened, __dimmed__ and she just stared blankly at me._

_My sobs __grew __louder as I __straightened __myself into a sitting position with her in my lap. Why? Why did she have to die? She's too young to die. I'm too young to lose someone so important._

_Thunder __starts rumbling from__ the sky and rain begins to __fall, mixing__ together with my tears and the big blood puddle that I'm sitting in. __Turning my head towards __the grey __heavens,__ I scream with all my might;_

"_MARY!"_

_End of dream_

When I wake from my nightmare, I feel completely drained; like I've just run a marathon - just like in my dream… Surprisingly, my breathing is still even, as if my nightmare didn't affect me at all, and I didn't even wince when I woke up. This is the first time I dream of that event, and it's really terrifying to experience it again. I'm lucky that I haven't dreamt of her in my previous dreams…

I really don't want to dream about those events, and I've worked so hard to not think about it. But now that I've dreamed of that event, all the feelings I felt back then are coming back now that I have woken up.

I try to distract myself by thinking over what happened before I fell asleep while I still pretend to sleeping.

Ok, so I ate up all of my candy I got from Armstrong, having a huge sugar-kick afterwards and being very restless and fidgety. I begin to annoy Ed by whining over how bored I was, Al offered to play cards with me, we played cards for a while and then everything suddenly turned black. It makes no sense; I wasn't tired at all…

I begin to open my eyes slowly to get used to the strong sunlight before I sit up slightly while rubbing my eyes tiredly. Forcefully pushing the thoughts of my dream to the back of my mind so that those thoughts won't affect how I act towards my travelling companions.

"You're awake. That's good; I was beginning to get worried."

I turn my head a little to look tiredly at Alphonse, who's sitting next to a sleeping Edward. I look over to my right, only to see that it's empty. I blink a few times at the empty seat before I turn to Al once again.

"W-what happened? Where's Armstrong? How… How long was I asleep? When do we get to central? Where… Where's my bag?" I ask him with half-closed eyes while swaying a little due to my tiredness. No matter how bad of a nightmare I had, I still feel dead tired. Al chuckles a little before he answers my questions in order.

"Well, you got one of your 'random moments' in the middle of our game. Armstrong just went outside to take a breather or inspect the train or something like that; he should be back soon. You were asleep for about 8 hours, so we'll get to central in about 2 hours. And your bag is there in the corner on your seat." He then points at my bag next to me to my left.

I nod tiredly while rubbing my eyes once again, trying to wake myself up, but to no avail. I look down at my bag and just stare at it for a while, trying to keep myself awake by focusing only on the bag.

When that doesn't work either, I clap my cheeks hard three times. Now I'm awake and have my feelings under control so that I'm sure that I won't break in front of them due to all of the memories the dream awoke, my cheeks sting a little but it's worth it. I zip open my bag and pull out my sketchbook and my small bag of pencils and place them on the table. I open the sketchbook and turn to a page where I've already began to sketch on a picture.

I can see Al stare at me out of the corner of my eye, so I decide to meet his gaze with a confused look in my eyes.

"What?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow. Al shakes his head while looking at my cheek.

"No, nothing. I'm just wondering why you hit yourself. That must have hurt, and it isn't very healthy to hit yourself so often, especially in the face." I nod in confirmation as I open the bag of pencils and takes out a sketching pen. I begin to sketch some more on picture.

"It has to hurt; I slap myself to keep my feelings in check." I answer him curtly, not moving my gaze from the picture I'm working on.

As the picture begins to take form, a small smile appears on my lips. Thinking about my happy part of my childhood help me push back the memory of my dream. I really don't want to be reminded of Mary, it would bring back the pain and I would have to start all over again with my recovery. It took me at least four months for me to be able to smile again, and I usually smile 20 times a day. Or at least it feels that way. My parents where freaked out by my behaviour back then.

The picture I'm drawing right now is when me and Raven went to the sea, I was 6 years old at that time and we played with a ball in the water while our parents sat on the shore behind us. That was the summer after I and Raven met for the first time.

I've just finished sketching Raven holding the beach ball and our parents in the background. I'm just about to draw myself waiting for Raven to throw the ball, when I remember that Mary also went with us during this vacation.

I decide to draw her in the picture as well and begin to sketch Mary holding me up in the air by my waist happily. As I'm drawing, I have small tears in my eyes, but my smile is still present on my face. I can hear Alphonse shift a little in his seat with a small 'clang' from his armour.

My two pigtails are like always placed on the top of my head in the picture while both Mary's brown hair and Ravens shorter black hair are hanging freely just above their shoulders. All of us are laughing while I'm trying to escape Mary's grip to be able to play with the ball together with Raven. Though Mary's much stronger than me, so I'm not able to escape from her grasp, but I didn't mind being held by her.

When the sketch is complete, with the surroundings being cliffs to the right and the sea and beach continuing to the left, I study my work proudly. I managed to draw a picture of Mary without crying, I guess not thinking about her for 7 years has eased the pain a little.

"What are you drawing Gloria?"

I jump a little, surprised by Alphonse voice, and I look up from my drawing in surprise, smiling at him sheepishly.

"He he, sorry Alphonse, I forgot you where there. Do you want to see? It's kind of done, I just have to colour it. Although it would be easier to colour if I had colour pencils." I ask him happily while handing over my sketchbook. Alphonse accepts the book with a polite 'thank you' before he looks at the picture. I can hear a small chuckle emit from his hollow body.

"This picture is so happy; you're really good at drawing, Gloria. This looks like it's from a photo." I grin proudly with a small blush on my cheeks as Alphonse continues to observe the picture. He glances up at me, as if he's about to ask me if he could see some more pictures that I've drawn.

Since I already know what he's about to ask, I nod happily and lean over the table to turn over the pages so that he'll start at the first page. Alphonse once again says 'thank you' before he looks down at the first page of doodles. Alphonse noticed that I've drawn some alchemy circles and he sees some things that are incorrect with the circles, so he points it out so that I can draw it better next time.

Just when Alphonse has passed the 3 pages filled with doodles and have just gotten to the different chibi pictures, Edward wakes up.

"Morning, sleepy head/brother!" Al and I say at the same time. Edward blinks a little in surprise at our sync greeting but replies with a tired 'morning' while yawning a little behind his hand. When he notices my sketchbook in Alphonse's hands, Ed points at it lazily.

"What's that?" He asks his little brother tiredly, Alphonse brightens a little as he shows his brother the first chibi picture, which is the chibis of himself and Edward when they're both playing tag in their real bodies when they were little.

"This is Glorias sketchbook, this is all of her drawings. She's a real artist!"

The blush once again appears on my cheeks in embarrassment at Alphonse's praise, but I turn even redder when Edward too praises my drawing when he's had a good look at it. The two brothers continue to look through my sketchbook, both of them laughing at some pictures or smiling happily with a far-away look in their eyes. Or they're just confused since they don't know most of the characters I've drawn, as well as most of the internal jokes. They didn't react when they saw the chibi group of the homunculi since they haven't met them yet, but when the time comes, I'll probably rip out that picture.

I wonder where Armstrong is; shouldn't he be back by now? Al said that he would just take a breather or go patrolling, but I don't think that Armstrong would be gone for one hour. I hope nothing bad has happened… But wait; have I drawn any dark pictures in my sketchbook? If so, it wouldn't be good if the Elrics saw them… Damn… I've drawn some dark pictures… I just hope they don't look in the back of the book, that's where they are.

I'm being brought out from my thoughts when I hear the two Elrics gasp in horror. I quickly look up from looking down at the table to see them express feelings like horror, disbelief, shock and sadness. I lean over the table to tip the book down slightly to see where they're in the book. They're looking at a picture in the back… Damn…

I quickly snatch the book from their grasp and look at the picture while biting my lip. Damn, this brings back bad memories…

I'm sitting curled up in a very dark corner with a bloody knife next to me, the blood on it being my own. Blood seeps out from the big cut on my arm and I'm holding my other hand against the cut to try and stop the bleeding somewhat, but the blood just passes through my fingers. I'm shuddering violently and my eyes are filled with so much pain, you can't imagine that that little 7-year-old girl was me with so much pain present in her eyes. My eyes look almost dead, like I've already given up on life.

My hair is put up in its usual ponytails on the top of my head, but it looks really dirty and it's a total mess. You can see some bloodstains on my hair and face and my legs are covered in it due to the fact that I'm holding my bleeding arm around my knees. My t-shirt and brown shorts are really dirty, like I have been running through the woods and fallen, or that I haven't changed clothes for days. A pair of bloody black socks is placed next to me to my right and I'm tightly clenching a piece of paper in my free hand, the paper being a picture of someone. But you can't see the person's face, just the top of the persons' hair.

I'm not crying on the picture, but you can clearly see tear-stains on my cheeks and my eyes are puffy with big tired bags underneath them, clear signs that I've been crying for days. The picture is very dark and painful, nothing like I am today.

I quickly shut the sketchbook and shove it inside my bag together with my pens and zip my bag closed before I glance over at their sad faces.

"You weren't supposed to see that…" I mumble quietly before I look down into my lap, fiddling with my pants nervously.

When they recovered from the shock over seeing me like that, Edward is the first to ask a question. "What was that picture about?"

I nervously look through my orange bangs to meet his pained golden gaze for a second before looking down in my lap once again. The picture must have reminded them of Nina…

I take a deep shuddering breath before I begin to speak.

"When I was younger, I often became drowned in my own feelings and I often got panic attacks or locked myself in my room for days without eating anything. My record was 9 days, but it isn't something that I'm proud of.

"When I was 8 years old, me and Raven were attacked by some drunken guys. I got so scared that I had a panic attack and began to hyperventilate, even though Raven had already beaten down the men. When I didn't listen to her when she tried to calm me down, Raven slapped me hard in the face to make my shock overcome my fear and other overwhelming emotions, it worked and I began to listen to her.

"That's when I realised that stinging pain on my cheeks is the best way to get me to face reality; to drag me away from withing myself. Talking doesn't work, determination doesn't work, pestering doesn't work and certainly not any calming pills or drugs, that only makes it worse since I'll panic even more by getting sleepy all of a sudden. I know that it isn't healthy to slap yourself so often, but I have to. Or else my emotions will take over and I'll go back to the time when I locked myself up for days, or weeks. I don't want to go back into… that… The me you saw on the picture...

"I was 7 back then. That was when someone really important to me died; it was also then that I locked myself in for 9 days straight. My parents found me on the floor unconscious in a pool of my own blood on the ninth day and they were forced to take me to hospital to give me blood in order for me to survive.

"I just couldn't take it, I knew that it was the cycle of life to die sooner or later, but I didn't know that she would die so soon. I broke down big time and I didn't even want to go to her funeral, I felt like I didn't deserve it since it was my fault. She was my big idol, she took care of me when mom and dad couldn't, she played with me almost every day and she helped me to learn cooking a few times. We were just as close as I and Raven are now, if not more, so her death broke me into pieces.

"I might have gotten help from Raven and my parents to pick up my pieces again, but even though I'm glued together the scars are still present and I can easily break again. After her death, that was when my big depression-periods became really serious. Before that, I was just sulking or just got really depressed for a few hours, but after her death I would lock myself inside my room for at least a day…"

All the while when I talked, I looked down in my lap to avoid their eyes filled with sadness or horror as well as trying to get my feelings in control. I have no idea why I'm even telling them this, I've only known them for a few days and here I am, sitting and telling them about my darkest past. But it feels like I've known them longer, perhaps it's because I've watched the anime for such a long time.

An uncomfortable silence surrounds us after my explanation, but everyone else on the train are acting like normal since I talked too quietly for them to hear me. Edward is the one who asks the question quietly, and also looking down in his own lap with his golden bangs covering his eyes. "Who died?"

Al turns towards his older brother, the sadness still present in his own glowing orbs. Both Al and I can notice the pain in his voice when he says those words. "Brother…" Al trails off in concern for his brother.

I can feel Edwards gaze fall upon my face as he waits for my answer, but I say nothing, too afraid that It'll wake up the painful feeling once again like it did all those years ago. Alphonse tries to smooth me, even though I know that he wants to know too.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to. We know how painful it is to talk about someone close to you who died."

I meet his gaze and say quietly, "I-it's alright Al, thank you anyway. But I think its best if I tell you now. The one… The one who died was..." But I didn't say it loud enough, because they lean closer.

"What did you say?" I raise my head a little higher so that they can clearly see the tears in my eyes. Their shocked faces remind me that they haven't seen my cry like this before, only the happy side of me. I smile bitterly through the tears as I say louder with my tears running freely down my face.

"The one who died… was my big sister…"

* * *

><p>(1) Captain hook has a red coat, Ed has a red coat. Together with her random moment and sugar-high she got the image that he was captain hook. :)<p>

Waaah! I felt so depressed when I wrote this last part! T-T Yes, she did have a big sister. I said that she was the only child, not the only born child. I really like her random moment though, and I felt like it had to happen something funny to lift up the depressing part.

Can you guess what'll happen next? ^^

And there will be no more depressing memory flashbacks, I can promise you that. This was the last one, so you don't have to become depressed over her past anymore. Glorias childhood was very happy most of the part, so I'm not planning on adding anything depressing from her past. :)

Oh, and I have to announce something: **My Beta isn't able to correct my chapters anymore!** Yup, it's sad, but she must focus on school now... TT^TT So just so you know, **only half of this chapter was corrected and the future chapters won't be Beta'ed** (Can you say like that...?) **so the grammar and wording will be slightly worse than previous chapters. But don't worry, I have gotten a lot better since I began writing so there won't be any major faults. ^^ (I hope...)**

Bye~! ~^0^~


	9. Meeting Sheska

I had such a huge problem on how I would start and end this chapter, thus it being so late. XD I'm sorry that I've taken such a long time, but I promise you all: I have such great ideas for this story that I will absolutely not end it! ^^ Just, my chapters might be slow because right now I don't have much inspiration and stuff… -_-"

Once again, sorry for the huge delay, but here it finally is. Enjoy~! ^^

* * *

><p>"Y-your sister?" The two Elric brothers ask me in shock at the same time, leaning back a little as if I've hit them. I nod sadly, wiping away my tears on my cheeks before I look out the window.<p>

"Yeah, we were like you two. Always staying together and backing each other up whenever it was needed. We're alike that way Edward… I blame myself too…"

I can hear Alphonse's armour clank slightly, as if he's looking between me and Ed, which he probably does.

"Blame yourself? What do you mean by that Gloria? Brother?"

Even though Alphonse asks both of us, none of us answer his question. I then enter my personal isolating bubble so I don't notice when Armstrong comes back, although I'm sure he came back not soon after I shut myself off.

I stare out the train window for the rest of the trip, ignoring everything happening around me. This usually happens when I'm upset and I'm forcing my emotions to the back of my head again. I never like to feel sad, so I always push the sad feelings or thoughts away to deal with them later. The only thing is that I never face those problems, just letting them lie there in the back of my mind and when they surface I just push them back down again.

It's a really bad therapy and I know I'm slowly crumbling apart, but I'm too afraid to face my emotions… It's not making it any easier being bipolar…

I JUST CALLED MYSELF BIPOLAR?_!_?_! _Ok, think of something else… Think of something else. Chocolate… Ok, I'm good…

Mary used to call this mode I have 'shut down' since I become like a turned off robot when I'm shoving the thoughts down. No one can really get contact with me unless I get myself out from this mode or if someone hurts me physically. I often went into this mode after Mary… Yeah…

* * *

><p>When we finally arrive at central station, I've gotten over my sadness and am once again my happy self. I skip out from the train and stare around me in awe of how large the station is in reality. I feel even smaller than I usually do when I look up at the huge roof.<p>

Behind me, Edward runs out from the train in excitement and raises his fists and suitcase in the air while shouting loudly at his brother.

"Hurry up Al!"

"Brother, we don't have to hurry up that much…" Al says, trying to calm down his brother.

"Yes, libraries cannot run away." Armstrong tries to calm him down as well, but nothing can hinder Edward's excitement right now.

"Hey! I wanna see the library too, but I'm not in a rush!"

"Just hurry up!"

I giggle slightly at Ed's enthusiasm, it will be fun to see in person of how he reacts when he sees the burned down building. But I better add some acting to fool Armstrong; I don't want him to suspect anything just yet.

Edward runs through the streets, towards the library with Alphonse and Armstrong running directly behind him. But I, being the slow runner that I am, fall way behind the three of them… I don't have the energy to yell after them, and I doubt they would hear me anyway since they are so far away. I have to catch up somehow! I don't know my way around central!

It's really hard to think and run at the same time, but I succeed somehow. We're running uphill, so using an ice board will be useless and slow me down even further… The people on the street keep getting in my way, so even if we were running downhill, it would be too dangerous with my sense of balance… Can I somehow use my alchemy to create a stone pillar to propel myself up and forward? No, too many risks. I'm not confident enough to try that…

I begin to lose sight of my companions and if I don't come up with something soon, I will be lost in a matter of seconds.

Think! What would Raven do in this situation? She would run faster… Alright, someone else! Ehm… Naruto! He would jump up to the roof tops! But I can't do that… But maybe I can run on walls! With ice! Or can I…? Hell, I don't have time to doubt my awesome alchemy, I have to try!

With that in mind, I clap my hands together, making them glow the usual blue light and make water sipper out from two bottle containers that are hanging around my hips. I run towards the nearest wall, tired out of my mind like I've been so many times before. But this time, I have to ignore it and catch up to my three companions.

The moment I place my first foot on the wall, I imagine my foot having glue on its shoe sole to stick itself on the house wall. But that doesn't work very well… When I'm about to push myself up on the wall, my foot just slips off the surface and I land hard on my behind.

Now with a sore butt, I have to think of something else as I tiredly push myself up to my feet again. Ok, I have to imagine something else… What if my stud boots are like Links metal boots in twilight princess and that the wall is the magnetic field that my boots gets stuck to? That could work!

With that other picture visible in my mind, I once again try to step up on the wall, but this time it actually works! Yay, finally! Zelda games can actually give you great ideas, who would have thought that?

I run straight up the building wall, people behind me gasping in surprise and some telling me to come back down. But I of course ignore them and look towards where I last saw the Elrics and Armstrong. I can see a very recognisable suit of armour in the mist of people, very far away. I watch as they turn right at a traffic light but that's when they disappear from my line of sight completely.

I look up in front of me just in time to avoid getting hit on the knees by the edge of the building's roof. I jump over the edge by holding onto the roof with my hands and fasten my feet on top of said roof. If I would have had the time, I would have marvelled the view of the city, but right now I have a destination, and that destination is the burned down library.

Lucky for me, I can see the library clearly from up here; it's in front of me, just a few blocks away. I can jump from roof to roof all the way to the library! If I'm fast enough, I might even get there before the other three!

But I change that thought into 'now I can take it easy' instead since I like being lazy. Now, I'm only jogging lightly instead of a full blown sprint like I did before… Ok maybe it's not a sprint to anyone other than me… But it's so tiring to run! I'd rather fight to exhaustion than run! When you fight, you move your whole body but when you run, you just move your legs. Raven has always complained about my poor stamina, but it's not my fault! It's just- ok it's my fault for being lazy. But why would I need a huge stamina on my side of the gate? I never knew I would need great stamina later in life.

When I'm close to the library, I can hear a certain someone scream in shock and misery.

"Dr. Marcho's research data!"

When I reach the last house before the park surrounding the library prevents me to go any further, I fall to my knees in a panting heap. The house is too high for me to jump down from without me breaking any bones, so I'm stuck up here until I have the power to go down using my alchemy or if someone helps me down. The first option will never happen in my condition, so I'll settle with the second one once I have the breath to scream at them.

Edward stands outside the building with slumped shoulders and his mouth wide open for a few minutes. Al would probably have the same expression if he had a body. Armstrong is looking shocked, but he's not miserable like Edward is.

Just when they're about to walk inside, Edward having recovered from his first shock, I shout out to them since I've finally somewhat regained my breathing.

"Hey! Are you going to leave me behind again?_!_"

The three of them stop and look around for a while, looking for the owner of the voice. I was just about to scream 'up here' when Alphonse suddenly notice me on the roof. I think he's looking at me in shock, but I can't be too sure. The other two with human bodies sure does when Alphonse points out where I am.

"How did you get up there?_!_ And why are you there in the first place?_!_" Edward screams at me angrily.

Small tears gather in the corner of my eyes and I wave my arms above my head in frustration.

"It's me who should be angry at you! You know I'm a bad runner, yet you three left me behind! Now help me down!"

Edward shakes his head and walk towards the library again with Alphonse and Armstrong looking after him in confusion. I was about to say something, but Ed cuts me off, sounding very bored.

"You have to get down on your own, if you can get up, you can get down!"

I can only gape after him as he disappears within the building. Did he really just say that? And here I thought that Edward was the person to help all of his friends when they needed it! Ok, maybe he just knows that I'm lazy and doesn't want to help me because of that, but he can at least be a little nicer about it!

… Ok, there isn't a nicer way to say it… But he's very rude! Wait, did just Alphonse and Armstrong follow him inside? I can't believe it! He made his kind little brother be insensitive and leave me here just because his words make sense?_!_ That little runt!

Or maybe the two of them walked inside to convince Edward to help me down? No, they could have done it themselves… They're all bastards! Neither of them will escape from my wrath now! Although, I have no idea how I should punish Armstrong… I'll make him pay when I have a chance to do it.

With determination in my eyes, I stand up and glare down at the burned library. Once I get down, you all will regret ever leaving me up here!

I'm just about to figure out a way to get down safely when I suddenly remember that Ross and Brosh will come here soon. In fact, they are walking in right now. I better create that bracelet I've been planning on making now. That way, I'll have an excuse to why I can use alchemy without using a circle.

So, I bend down, still on top of the roof obviously, and clap my hands. I then place them on the water gutter of the roof and imagine a fine looking bracelet emerge from it with my alchemic circle on it. I close my eyes for further concentration as blue sparks circles around my hands and I slowly pull them upwards. When I finally open my eyes, I'm looking at my first success in alchemy. It's a little hard to put it on, but with a lot of me wiggling my hand back and forth it's finally through. It's not as fine-looking as I imagined it to be, but it looks like a bracelet at least, that's something.

The bracelet I made is just a simple metal bracelet about one inch thick with small dents here and there. It's now hanging comfortably on my right hand and thanks to Edwards and Truth's information I knew just which combination of metal I would choose to make the bracelet rustproof and sturdy enough to take a hit. Like I thought, the water gutter was filled with the rust free metal, but it didn't have much of the sturdy metal. I guess I have to add it to my bracelet sometime later.

But now, facing the problem at hand, I have to get down if I'm supposed to punish the boys… And I still have to talk to Armstrong before he leaves!

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, there he is! I have to get down; perhaps I can wrap the water around me like an elastic bubble and bounce me to safety when I reach the ground? That's too risky… But do I really have any other option? I guess not… Alright, I'll try. If I die, I'll haunt Ed forever for leaving me up here.

Then I jump down. The world's swishing by me as I fall, the wind playing with my ponytails on my head. I clap my hands and the water in my bottles and the ice that's still on my feet quickly follow my bidding, it surrounds my feet first then move upwards until my whole small body is covered in water in a smaller oval. When I finally make contact with the ground, I make the water expand suddenly and form a larger bubble.

Like I thought, I bounce away, safe within the ball. When I see Edward walk to the car that's waiting for him, Alphonse, Ross and Brosh, I disperse my safety and let the water slip inside its containers once again. I land hard on my stomach, knocking the wind out of me momentarily, but I quickly stand up to chase after the two boys.

"Edward and Alphonse Elric! You two are in some deep shit to leave me on the roof!"

The two of them tense up and slowly turn around to look at me as I'm marching towards them. They have seen me angry, yes, but that's when we're alone. When we're around other people, I've told them that I'll be a whiney girl when they're doing something mean to me. But since I'm like this, they now know they're in for a big punishment. Ed is the first one to speak, getting more nervous as an angry me gets closer to him for each second.

"Oh, hehe. Hi Gloria… How's it going?"

"I'm alive, not thanks to you." I snap back at him. But I then notice that Armstrong is already walking away, towards the train station I believe, so I change my course towards the muscled man instead.

"Huh? Gloria, where are you going?"

I look over my shoulder to answer Alphonse question with a small too happy smile on my face.

"I have to talk to the major for a bit. Wait here, I'll be right back."

The two boys shiver slightly at my deadly undertone to my voice, clearly telling them that if they run, there would be a worse hell waiting for them when I find them again. After I feel that my point has gotten across, I turn around to run the rest of the way to Armstrong.

"Hey, Major Armstrong! Wait!"

Armstrong turns around to look down at my small running form when he hears my shout.

"Hmm? Is something wrong, miss Gloria?" He asks me politely, I shake my head in response and fish up a letter signed to Roy Mustang from my left pocket and hand it over to him.

"Here, can you give this to Mustang? It's really important, so please don't open it. My father mentioned him in one of his journals, so I thought he could help me."

Armstrong does a heroic pose while he takes the letter from my hand, sparkles surrounding him.

"Well, of course miss Gloria! Anything to help you in your search!"

I nod my head, happy at his answer but then I remember something else I have to ask him.

"Hey, Major… When is the next alchemy exam? I would like to take it so that I can make my alchemy to good use!"

Armstrong look down at me in surprise before he holds his chin in thought, bending down to not make me feel too small. (At least I think that's the reason)

"I believe it is in about ten days from now, starting at noon in central headquarters."

Sparkles shine in my eyes and I clap my hands in excitement. "That's great! Then that means that I have just enough time to prepare myself! Four days for the practical test and six days for the theoretical!"

Armstrong nods at my words and finally straightens up, putting my letter to Mustang inside his coat.

"Yes, but don't you need more time to remember everything about alchemy? Why not take the exam next year? And you're still so young."

I shake my head roughly, steel set about my decision.

"No, I'll be a state alchemist! I have photographic memory so remembering won't be a problem! And besides, Edward became an state alchemist at the age of 12, why can't I do the same? I also need some way to earn money so becoming a state alchemist will be my best choice."

Armstrong nods once again, bows to me politely before he leaves with a 'good luck' hug and passionate words. I really hate Armstrong hugs…

As I turn around to start walking towards the car that I'm going to ride, I notice that no one's next to the car, meaning that everyone's inside, and that the car is starting, meaning that Ed and Al are running away. I grow a tick mark and my face is twisted into a murderous scrawl, do they seriously think that they can get away from me? They're even looking out the back window, Ed with a smug look while Al looks nervous at seeing me so angry. At least I think he's nervous, it's hard to tell with that suit of armour.

Without thinking, I raise my right hand and snap my fingers together, imagining that the gears for the tires of the car gets frozen and can't move. When the water from one of my bottles suddenly latch out from its bottle and quickly float down underneath the car and that said vehicle over and over tries to move, but only jerks on its place, is a sign that it actually worked. Heh, so I only have to snap my fingers now that I have a bracelet to use my alchemy? Cool…

I smirk in victory as Ed begins to panic, looking between me and the driver and shouts at the driver, probably telling him to start moving. Then he started screaming at Al since Alphonse obviously tells his brother that they shouldn't have tried to leave without me.

I slowly advance towards the car, making Edward even more nervous. I can see Ross and Brosh look at the brothers in confusion and then at my now smiling face, they don't seem to see the danger that the two brothers are in or how I can even _be_ dangerous.

When I reach the car, which is still unable to move, the two brothers are huddled together and are leaning as far away from the door I'm standing by as much as possible. I forcefully throw open the door and smile at the two of them, speaking in a too sweet sugar coated voice. Ed and Al hug each other even tighter and shrink even further away from me. I think they're picturing me with fire in my eyes and background right now. They're afraid of me just like they fear Winry, that's cool! And I accomplished it in only four days, that's even cooler. Although, how I have no idea. Maybe they sensed my dark side when I talked to them. But I don't think I'm on Izumi level, they can't fear a person more than they fear Izumi after all.

"Hi, Edward! Alphonse! You didn't try to leave without me, did you? I would be really sad if you did! Oh, but I have already forgiven you for leaving me to get down from the roof by myself, no harm done! Although I never thought that even Alphonse wouldn't help me! (Alphonse flinches at the mention of his name) Oh well, what done is done, nothing can change that! Hihi! Oh, but who are these two? (Turns towards Maria and Denny) Are they some of your friends? Hi, I'm Gloria! It's nice to meet you!"

I hold out my hand towards the two, waiting for one of them to take it. Ross finally does after hesitating for a moment when she sees the state I'm putting the brothers in right now. Brosh does the same and they both present themselves with their full names and ranks.

After the introductions are done, I climb inside the car and slam the door shut after I've released the wheels from my ice, letting my beloved water sipper back into its bottles. When the car finally starts moving, with Ed being squished in between me and Alphonse, Ross and Brosh begins to talk about the burned down library.

"There is someone well-versed in the data that was in the library's first branch. Although she's no longer employed…"

Even though Edward is still a little afraid of my wrath, he still got the guts to be slightly disappointed when he hears that she's not an employee.

"Looks like I shouldn't expect much."

He says and looks out at the houses from my window, just like in the anime. But I get into his face, my too sweet smile on my face once again as I say to him sternly.

"Now, now. You shouldn't underestimate the memory of someone from the library."

Ed begins to sweat slightly and leans away as far as possible.

Brosh has been staring at Al for the whole short ride and Al finally decides to ask him the question I've been waiting for.

"Can I help you?"

Brosh seems a little nervous when he begins to ask his question. "U-umm… Pardon my impudence, but why are you wearing a suit of armour?"

The two brothers look at each other in panic, both of them sweating, while I look at Brosh calmly.

"Oh, that's easy! Alphonse's really weird so he has weird hobbies! One of them is wearing a suit of armour!"

The two officers look at me in shock before whispering loudly between themselves. Ed and Al send me a look of gratitude, but I just glare back at them, reminding them that I still haven't forgiven them for what they've done.

The two brothers look away from me and begin to comment how beautiful the scenery is. They are pathetic actors…

"Gloria-san?"

I look away from the sweating brothers to meet the gaze of Maria, smiling softly at her politeness.

"Nah, you don't have to add a suffix, just call me Gloria!"

She seems surprised at this but nods her head nether less. "Oh, ok… Gloria. Why are you here in central? And what kind of relationship do you have with the Elric brothers?"

I blink in surprise at her question, I never expected her to ask me something like that…

"Yes, and why were the two of them so afraid of you before? You don't look that scary."

I sweat drop at Brosh's statement, I can look really scary if I want to but I don't think that neither of them want to be victims for my wrath.

"Well, to answer your first question…" I begin, raising one finger in front of my face. "I'm here for two things, one being searching for my father's journal, which is now a burned lump in the library, and the other being taking the alchemist exam."

The two officers tense up in shock and they both exclaim at the same time, "The state alchemist exam?_!_"

"Yep!" I nod proudly with a big grin.

"But aren't you a little too young to take the exam?"

I pout at Brosh, crossing my arms over my small chest. "No I'm not! I'm very capable of becoming a state alchemist! I'm 12, you know! The same age as Edward was! If he can do it, so can I! What kind of apprentice would I be to him if I wasn't capable of taking the exam at the same age he did?"

The two are quiet for a while before they both start to scream, but reacting on different things that I said.

"EEEEHH! 12 YEARS?/EDWARD-SAN'S APPRENTICE?"

I huff angrily, offended that they are underestimating me. "Yes, so now you got the second answer…" I then look out the window, focusing on the scenery rather than the others talking about me. I can faintly hear Brosh say something about me looking so young or something like that, but before I begin to listen more closely, Ed and Al cut him off with a 'shh'.

I think Brosh asked the brothers about the third question, but I can't really decipher what they're saying since I'm ignoring them. For some reason, I'm really good at shutting out the world around me. When I don't want to listen to something, I simply don't listen to anything. It got me in a lot of trouble when I went to school…

Now that I think of school, I wonder how Raven is doing… She must be devastated since she thinks that I'm dead… If I only could contact her somehow, then I could reassure her that I'm alive but that I won't be able to go back. It would lessen her pain at least… Maybe…

-Sigh- You can always dream… I don't think that would help her at all…

When we arrive at Sheska's home, even I am surprised at the huge mountain of books inside. I don't think I'll ever be able to read this many books in my whole life… It's unbelievable that she even had the money to buy all these! Much less live in this room! We only have a small path to walk on as we call out her name. Of course, Al is the first one to hear her underneath the huge pile of books.

"Brother! A person! A person's buried here!" He calls out in panic. The rest of us quickly get over to where Al is and we together dig her up with Ed screaming "Dig! Dig!" as we do. Once Sheska is out from her book mountain, she immediately apologizes.

"Ooooh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention when a pile of books was tumbling down… I thought I was going to die. Thank you…!"

Every one of us collapses once Sheska is out, silently saying 'you're welcome' to her. Edward is the one who ask her if she's Sheska and if she worked on the 1st branch in the library. She says that she is indeed who we are looking for (which I already knew) and she also shares her sorrowful story that she read too many books and thus was fired from her job and now she can't put her sick mother in a better hospital. You all know the story, right? No use in repeating it.

Although… Something feels… different… I don't know what though…

"Uh… There's something I want to ask you. Do you know anything about the research files written by Tim Marcoh?"

Sheska takes a few moments to think it over, chanting 'Tim Marcoh'. I take this moment to think as well, exactly what feels different somehow. This is how it's supposed to play out in the anime, right? Yes, Edward will ask her if she's Sheska, she'll present he sorrowful story and she'll remember that Tim Marco's notes was in the 1st branch. Then Ed and Al will get depressed because that means that the book was burned up but they will be stopped when Sheska tell them that she remembers everything she reads. They will get revived and dance around her in joy. … Jup, all that is happening around me now… But why do I feel like it should be different somehow? Maybe I'm thinking too much about it…

"Excuse me, Gloria. Weren't you also looking for a book in the library?"

I blink out from my thinking trance and look up at Maria Ross's smiling face. "Huh?" Is my intelligent answer, way to go Gloria…

"You said that you're looking for your father's journal, maybe Sheska have read that one as well."

I get worried for a second, thinking over what to do in this situation but decide to just go with the flow. I can always ask her, but I know that she'll say that she hasn't heard of that author. So with my mind set, I make a face of realisation, clapping my hands happily.

"You're right! I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even think about it!"

I skip up close to Sheska, tugging at her shirt to get her attention. Once she's looking at me, I give her a huge smile and my eyes shining with hope.

"Ne, Sheska? Do you think you could have read one of my father's books? His name is Walter Dementor!"

Sheska think while she's looking at me, her forehead wrinkling in thought. Although, she soon give me a sad smile, that clearly saying that she haven't read a book by an author going by that name. But I already knew she would give me that face.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't read any book by someone like that. I have read books by Walter Hayley and Walter Tocbutons but not a Walter Dementor."

My eyes widen in shock when I hear my father's surname that he had before he met mom. Walter Tocbutons… That's my father's name… I would recognise it anywhere since it's so strange, but I would have never imagined hearing it here! What the hell is going on!? I suddenly feel really sick, as if I'm standing on a vioently swaying boat. I don't understand what's going on and I absolutely hate it.

I grip onto Sheska's shirt tighter to keep myself upright for the sudden sick feeling, almost getting a desperate glint in my eyes since I'm anxious to know why that author has the same name as my father.

"That's it! That's my father's name before he met mom! Walter Tocbutons! Please write it for me! I have to read it!"

Sheska looks a little shocked and confused by my sudden desperation but she quickly nods to answer my question.

"Of course, I'll start with Walter's book before I go on to Marco's. His book is much thinner than Marco's and will probably take only a few hours. You can pick it up tomorrow morning if you want."

I give Sheska a shaky smile, hugging her around the waist so it seems like there's nothing worng. But it's a just a duisgise as I use her presense to try and shove away that horrible feeling I have. The feeling of not understanding anything, the feeling of motionsickness I get when I don't understand, the feeling of being absolutely helpless and succumb to these emotions. With a lot of difficulty, I swallow down the huge lump in my throat and slowly start to shove those emotions to the furthest corner of my mind. The part of my mind which I use the most.

"Thank you Sheska! You're the best!"

With that said through that aweful lump, I finally manage to shove away my emotions and thoughts enough to be able to function correctly. I let go of her and make my way towards the book corridor with slightly shaky legs. The others follow my example and with a last wave of goodbye, we all exit the apartment. Me, Ed and Al get driven towards the hotel Edward gave a name to, after a few minutes we arrive at the building and rent ourselves a room. It isn't long before the three of us are alone in our room that Ed starts to question me…

"Hey, Gloria. You said that you were from the other side of the gate, right? So how come one of your father's books are on this side?" Edward asks me in suspicion, already doubting my explanation as to why I am here for him and his brother. I stare blankly at him, my brain not really processing his words since it's now under a huge shock that my father's name is actually used here because I'm thinking more about how the book by my father came here. It seems like I take too long in trying to understand what he's asking, so he ask me the same question again.

"Are you even listening to me? If you're from where you told me you are from, then why have your father been here?"

I continue to stare at him with a blank expression since I don't really know what to say to him. I don't know? That won't be enough for him, I'm sure of that. I really can't answer his question until I've read my father's book. I'm starting to feel sick again.

"Hey! What's with you all of a sudden?!"

My brain finally gets over his shock thanks to his outburst and I manage to move my mouth to form one sentence.

"I don't understand how he could have been here…"

After that, I can practically feel all colours drain away from my face as my body start to tremble. I can't stop my emotions from coming out, there's too much! Everything's too much! Mary dies in front of me… The fire from the plane is coming towards me… I left Raven, mom and dad… Stop it; just stop showing those painful moments!

"H-hey! Gloria!"

I get bullied in school… I got no friends… They call me a bookworm… Mary dies… I cut myself… I'm all alone… I see friends play with each other… I didn't get the lead role… I clean out Mary's old things from my room… I take my therapy lessons… Mary dies… I get cleaning duty for something I haven't done… I get my heart broken by my first love… I listen to the song 'gomenasai'… I killed all those people… My hands are stained with Mary's blood!

-Slap!-

I'm back into reality when someone slaps me hard on my right cheek. My knees give out on me and I fall down to the floor, breathing heavily as if I've run a marathon and still shaking like a leaf. But I'm ok; I didn't go hysteria this time at least. I slowly look up to Edwards and Alphonse's confused and worried faces, though Edward still looks a bit untrusting.

"Gloria, are you alright?" Al asks me, his worry for me shown in his voice.

I stare at the two for a few seconds more before I look down to the floor, placing a hand on my sore cheek. I feel dizzy after that slap; I don't usually feel like this when I get hit. Although, I never hit myself this hard when I need to get out from my emotions. Maybe Raven was right that it's worse to slap myself than push away my emotions… But I don't care, my health be dammed, I need to push away my emotions so that I won't go insane.

I start to laugh weakly to try and lighten the tense mood, but it seems to make the air even thicker and it's difficult to breathe because of that. Tears gather in my eyes as I try to ease my breathing a little, but obviously it doesn't work.

"I never planned to… to get like this… Just his name… only hearing his name… It doesn't make sense… Why…? Why…? W-why? -sniff- W-why t-the h-h-hell was h-he here? I-it feels l-like I d-don't k-know h-h-him a-anymore. H-how could h-he-!"

I don't get to finish my sentence as I break down to sobs, my emotions having broken down my walls of protection for the moment and all emotions I have bottled up are all released now that I'm crying. Anger, confusion, sadness, despair, annoyance, guilt, fear, hatred, panic, regret, it all comes out all at the same time. I can't build up my walls, there's too much emotion for me to handle it all at once. So I just let myself cry in front of the two brothers, grateful that they left me to do so in peace; even if it just was because they did not know what else to do.

* * *

><p>There it is! She got her breakdown. This will happen other times throughout the story. It's really bad to push away feelings like Gloria does and since she'll be exposed to a lot of hardships throughout this story, her walls will break down more often than in her world and for each time, her walls will become weaker. And in the end she'll… Nah, I won't tell you guys. ;)<p>

Although, I wonder how I will address Maria Ross and Denny Brosh… Should I address them after their surnames or their first names? :/

But I hope you enjoyed it and that it was worth the long wait. Again, sorry for the huge delay… ^^" (This chapter is shorter than the others… It should be much longer than this… I'm sorry… TT^TT)


	10. Truth of a book

I'm sorry for the late update…

School has kept me quite busy, I've been plain lazy and my mind just couldn't focus on one story at a time… I feel reaaaally horrible to have kept you guys waiting for this long… TT^TT

But anyways, it's done now! Thank you SeaDevil for giving me a push in writing this, you really helped.

Oh, right **I won't write any more birthday chapters**. Even though I only did one, I can't come up with any good ideas for such chapters. I might write a special chapter in the future, I don't know, but I won't even try to set dates for when I'll update. I'm never sure when my brain will start thinking on this fanfic… -_-"

Anyway, I hope you like the chapter. Something… special will happen. ;) Enjoy! ^^

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What do you mean that I can't go and get the book?!" I scream at Ed in frustration, glaring up at him as he's standing in my way to the door. It's the day after we visited Sheska, the day she supposed that it would be done. I want to know why my father was here in the first place, if it's really him and what kind of book he wrote. And Ed tells me not to go and get it? That's just mean!

"No, Gloria. You are going to take the exam in nine days, you have to train and read up on alchemy during these days. Until the exam is done, I won't let you read your father's book. You have to spend all your time preparing."

I glare at him harder, my nails digging into the palm of my hand painfully but I comply with his order. I asked him to teach me and he does have a point in what he says. If I read father's book, I'll get distracted from the exam, probably.

I look to the side with a pout. "Fine, you do have a point… But still, it could be my clue as to why he was here. Or if it's even my father."

Edward pats my head as if I'm a kid, ruffling my hair roughly and making me stumble backwards slightly. When I look up again, he's wearing a teasing grin.

"Good girl."

I glare at him, straightening my hair from being a ruffled mess, tying it in its normal twin ponytails at the top of my head in the process.

"I'm not some dog or kid you know! I'm older than you!"

His grin grows slightly larger and he turns around to walk out from the hotel room. I follow after him obediently with Alphonse following me in turn. It seems like Alphonse wants to see me suffer… Or maybe he's worried over us… Could be both, who knows what's hidden behind that metal mind of his…

"Well, it doesn't seem like it body-wise. You sure look like a kid to me." Says Edward with that fucking grin still plastered on his face. I bristle slightly at his answer, shooting him a nasty glare.

"… Are you implying something…?"

My glare gets darker, killer intent rolling off me in small waves. I have no idea how I'm able to scare them with what they will go through in the future, but I'm not complaining as Edward quickly stop teasing me.

"N-no, not at all. Anyway, let's go outside to the back garden, we can train you there." Edward says, walking a little bit faster.

I sigh tiredly, clearly not feeling like training today, or more precise, ever. Training needs work and sweat and I don't like either of those. I would rather laze in a chair all day, probably building a radio or something. And, yes, I can build a radio. When you're determined enough to study something, you can get pretty good at it. I've studied technology since I could read; I inherited fathers curious nature to almost everything scientific related.

"Train? Do I really have to…? It's exhausting…"

This time, it's Alphonse who points out that it's important to train the body.

"That's the main reason why you have to train, you lack stamina. You have to train your body as well if you're going to preform good alchemy."

"How could you fight in your world but not have any stamina?"

I lazily put my hands in the brown, slack pants I'm wearing; looking bored at the subject but is secretly excited and sad to talk about my side of the gate. Excited because, well, the Elrics are actually interested in my side of the gate, and sad because I miss it. We're now walking down the stairs to the bottom floor.

"Because I didn't have to fight that often, and if I had to fight it wasn't for more than a few minutes. And it rarely even happened anyways. The only training I got was from PE, but that was only once in a week."

"PE?" Al questions, I give him a small smile as I answer.

"'Physical Education' it consist of us running from time to time but we mostly do different sports. Most of the sports and games we did involve a ball so normally we didn't have to run that much."

"That explains a lot… Your world is pretty peaceful, isn't it?"

I scoff at Edwards statement, following him around the corner to walk down a different hallway. Yeah, right. My world, peaceful? Only those who live in ignorant bliss would believe that.

"Yeah, if you don't count the many wars we've had added with dangerous bombs which can blow up a whole city in a few seconds and all the countless persons having guns on them, it's really peaceful."

Both of them react strongly when I tell them about the bombs so they stop in the middle of the hallway, the backdoor being visible to where we are standing.

"What!? Bobms can blow up a whole city?! That's insane!"

I nod at Al with a straight face, my lip twitching slightly in amusement.

"Yeah, I know. There are a lot of insane and greedy people back at my home. There were some who had human slaves, some who leads a whole country to going bankrupt, some who cut down huge trees and creating deserts just to have farming fields, oh and let's not forget about the internet."

"Internet?"

With a large grin, I go into as detailed description on internet as I can come up with, a slight twinge in my chest for missing the unbelievable thing. Internet is awesome and no one can argue with me on that.

"Yeah, a place where people can share their obsessions, where they can find laughter in times of trouble and comfort when they feel lost. It's a place where people can feel at home and at the same time be completely who they want to be. You could look at pictures of cats or something. They also, for example, watch videos of goats who sound like screaming humans. And they make their own diary with stupid photos for each comment. There are ways to keep in touch with people you don't even remember meeting, douchebags you'd rather forget and the occasional childhood friend who moved to another state. And many, including me, read made-up stories about another story where someone either rewrite the story or add their own character in the story. Some of those stories are terrific but some are written so bad that it's laughable. There's also this awesome search master that is perfect, who can find exactly anything you might need information on in just a few seconds."

"… You're delaying your training, aren't you?"

I blow a raspberry at Edward, putting my hands on my hips with my hands touching my bottles which are strapped to my sides.

"Whatever made you think of that idea? I absolutely looooove exercise."

Edward shakes his head as my sarcasm, walking quickly over to the backdoor and exit into the outside air, leaving me and Al behind. Al looks down at me before he follows his brother, calling after me the three words which sealed my doom.

"Well, let's start."

I slump forward in depression, a small gloomy cloud looming over me as I slowly stalk after him towards the door.

"Ugh… Fudge my life…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What kind of push-up is that?! You're not even moving your arms! You're moving your butt! Don't you even know how a proper push-up looks like!? Start over again!"

"Whaaaat?! Noooooo! I was already on my 20th!"

"I don't care, I'm your teacher so you better listen! Now start over!"

"I don't wanna!

"Be glad I'm not throwing knives at you, that's what our teacher did!"

"That's child-abuse!"

"Ehm… Gloria, I think it's best to listen to brother. He's doing this for your best after all."

I sigh tiredly, doing one push-up before I stand up and run over to the second line to do one sit-up. When I run back to the first line, I do two push-ups and so on so forth. I'm panting in exhaustion already and I'm barely even running as I run between the two lines. It's more like a sluggish jog. Although, I continue to do push-ups and sit-ups like I've always done. Push-ups; bending my arms a little with my butt mostly moving. And sit-ups; bending my stomach a little so my head leaves the ground.

When Edward sees my performance in his training, he gains a small cloud of depression, slumping forward in defeat.

"It's no use, she doesn't know how to do it properly. There's no way she'll build up her stamina like this…"

Alphonse pats his shoulder comfortably, holding up a fist in determination for his brother.

"Don't give up brother, I know you can do the impossible."

I stop to look at the two brothers, panting in exhaustion and brushing away my bangs from my face. When Edwards gets a dangerous glint in his eyes, I'm seriously scared of my health but when he looks up from the ground, his expression is really calm.

"Alright, let's test a new training method." I nod tiredly at his words, straightening slightly so I'll have it easier to breathe.

"Lie down on the ground," I do as I'm told, relaxing in relief. "Now, do your 'sit-ups' with your hands on your stomach but with your head never touching the ground." Once again I do as I'm told, feeling relieved that there's nothing more to this.

I feel my body resting as I'm lying on the ground, nodding my head in an even rhythm. "Huh, this is pretty easy." I comment, nodding my head with a smile. Although, soon that pleasantry goes over to soreness and soon after that, pain. When my rhythm is slowing down, Edward calls out for me to continue. I do as told.

"Edward…"

"Yes?"

"Are you a fudging demon!?"

"You seemed to like nodding your head when you did sit-ups, so I'm just letting you enjoy it even more. If you've done the first training seriously, you wouldn't have had to that. Now, continue."

"My neck is burning!"

"Continue!"

"Ehm… Brother, don't you think that's enough?"

"No, she has to continue until I deem it enough."

I cry fake tears of misery as I continue nodding my head up and down, the pain blossoming in my neck every time my neck is further down. I never knew something this simple could hurt this much. And I still haven't punished the brothers for almost leaving me in the dust back at the burnt down library. I have to come up with a suitable punishment for it.

After 30 seconds of more nodding, Edward finally tells me to stop and my head collides harshly against the ground as I let my aching muscles relax. But he doesn't let me rest for long as he harshly tells me to stand up. I continue to lie where I am, glaring up at him with my neck still aching. This causes him to smile evilly at my defiance. This makes me sweat nervously and feel like I just dug my own grave. Even though I've kind of died once already.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Later that evening, I collapse onto my bed, all my muscles screaming for sleep. Every muscle in my body is aching, even those I didn't even know I had. I silently decided to never, ever defy Edward again. … At least during training.

This became like a morning routine for the next five days. Alphonse have already picked up my father's book and checked the progress on Marcho's notes. Al promised to give me father's book once they got their notes, Edward would be too busy with the notes to notice that I'm reading something else than the books Edward would give me. The gathering of the notes happened according to the anime as far as I remember, and like Al promised, I got my father's book. Edward wasn't too happy about that when he saw it but when I promised to read through his material in less than three days, he let me read my father's book.

What I found in it really surprised and… fascinated me.

After reading about three sentences, I can recognize the old coding language me and my father did for fun. My father taught it to me when I was young and we used it to write secret notes to each other which mother wouldn't be allowed to know about. I hastily snatch a paper and pen from Edward, who's sitting next to me on the table. Edward cries out in offence, but I ignore him in favor of scribbling down the uncovered words in the first three sentences.

_It has been a few months since I came up with this word code of mine. I believe it is a good way to steer away all the people who want to partake in my secret studies. No one can find out about what I'm doing other than my assistant._

It actually seems right… Did father teach me a coding which he invented when he was here? Ignoring the brothers, I continue to decode the book. But I couldn't help but get stuck at a few places which held quite interesting research done by my father. The first passage which I got stuck on was this.

_The first experiment was to see how long it takes for a human to die out of breathing in an acid gas, the screams from the patient distracted me but I managed to count it to about 15 seconds until he stopped screaming and 18 seconds until he died completely. When we tried another subject, we made sure that this one would be someone who has been on a battlefield. He actually survived 5 seconds longer than the first one, it must be because of the ash and smoke he's breathed in._

After reading that passage, I continue decoding for quite some time until I reached the 20th page I stumbled across a new experiment which I couldn't help but read.

_As the first experiment continued with my assistant supervising it, I started on a new project. To create a biological weapon that will disintegrate the body's vital functions. I started off with fusing the attributes of different bacteria to make it durable against medicine. I studied the yeast to find out what attributes it has to disintegrate sugar the way it does. I added this attribute to the bacteria and it is able to disintegrate the sugar just like the yeast but only for a limited amount of time. After further evolving, the bacteria survived longer than in the beginning when it disintegrates sugar. I have to find a way to make the bacteria focus on all coal-based material instead of just sugar._

After a short lunch-break, I reached the 50th page where I once again got stuck in the text.

_The experiments with the super-humans are going well, we make the test subjects inhale a mild poison at a daily basis, we're thinning out on human subjects and I don't want to waste any more. We divide the test subjects in half to try and evolve the humans by adding animal DNA into them. The first test subject died when we added too much different DNA at the same time. After that failure, we decided to take one small portion of one animal at a time. The rat, cat, pig and dog are mending best with the humans because of their mammal nature. The first reptile subject died after a few days since the human body rejected the new DNA. It will be a while until we're able to test the surviving subjects since they are still getting used to their new DNA._

With a bright grin, I get stuck on page 100, father's research getting even more interesting.

_After letting the bacteria stay in spot for a long time, I noticed something extraordinary, the bacteria has propagated like I suspected it would and they have disintegrated the sugar I gave them, but the interesting thing is that the bacteria is starting to attack each other, taking out the slightly weaker bacteria. It has evolved on its own during the time I focused on other experiments. I'll now test out the bacteria how it will react to salt. If the experiment is successful, I will-_

My reading is interrupted by a flick in my forehead. I yelp in shock, tripping over my chair, dropping my papers all over the place. I sit up, glaring up at Edward who's retracting his left hand which obviously flicked me. I start gathering up my scattered papers as I speak to him sully.

"What was that about? I was just getting to the good part too…"

Edward's eyebrow twitches slightly, crossing his arms as he glare at me.

"You were too into the text and you were smiling. Smiling in a way which no child should do. Should even be able to do."

"I agree with brother."

I pout as I gather the last of the 100 pages, returning to my seat at the table. Acting as if the poking never happened, I continue to decode the book. Grumbling slightly, Edward return to his work as well. Although, this time, I forced myself to not get stuck on any of the research. I'll be able to read it once I'm alone, right now I'll focus on finish this.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"No way…" I whisper in wonder and disbelief. I re-read the last paragraph to make sure that I read right the first time.

_My research facility was destroyed by the military, all my subjects killed along with all my employees in this research. They killed my assistant when she tried to defend me. I managed to hide in the hidden passage before they got to me. When I went back to the centre of the lab, everything was destroyed, they didn't even steal anything. I'll put this diary in the military library in hope that someone who's interested in my research will finish it for me. I will soon escape from the military; they are searching for me high and low in fear of my research. Only I know how to handle it so they would never be able to harness anything me and my team made. From the alchemists who've survived doing human transmutation, spoke about seeing a gate. I will use that gate to escape from the military. This will be the last anyone hear from me._

_Walter Tocbutons's Diary, out._

I put my head in my hands in thought. My father used human transmutation on himself to escape from being captured by the military. He hid his research right in front of the military's noses and managed to go through the gate to the other side. How was he able to trick truth and go **through** the gate? He wasn't ever sick in any kind of way and he had all his limbs left so he couldn't have paid a toll. **How could he have gone through the gate without using a toll?** It just doesn't make sense. And how come he taught me this code? Did he know that I would end up here? No he possibly couldn't have known, he didn't teach the code to Mary, only me.

I take a deep breath, pushing my worrisome thoughts into my favourite little box and stand up. I stretch my sore body before looking towards the two brothers. They are so absorbed into their research that they don't even notice me standing up. I smile bitterly, leaving my finished de-coded research with the text downwards. I take a blank paper, writing on it that I have to go outside to take some air before I leave it on top of father's research. I then make sure that my bottles are still around my waist, noting that I have to get a belt for them since my net gloves will soon rip apart, and walk towards the door of the library.

I walk out, waving goodbye to Ross and Brosh, coming up with the excuse that I'll go eat dinner since it's relatively late out. I then walk down the streets of central without any particular direction in mind. But that's when I hear a confused mumbling coming from an alley I just passed by.

"Where am I? I died in a plane crash… Didn't I?"

I freeze in my steps, quickly walking back to the alley I heard the voice coming from. Did that person just say 'plane crash'?!

"I'm sure I remember dying… But, how can I then be here? Where… IS here?"

Could it be possible…? There's another one like me, coming from my world. But why is that person here? Did that person die in the same crash as I did?

I step into the alley, my eyes slowly getting used to the lower light until I can see what the person looks like. It's a teenaged boy, about 16-17 years old, sitting against the stone wall with a hand at his face, blocking my form from his view. He has coloured his hair red with black streaks in it. His hair has a lot of hair wax in it to make the hair defy gravity and allowing his hair to have a Naruto-like spiky hair but it seems very dirty, like he's been lying on the ground for a long time. I can see the gleam of two silver rings in his right ear.

His clothing is very normal for an average high-scholar. He has normal, blue jeans with a black belt around his waist to hold the pants in place and a grey hoodie on. I can see the lining of his red shirt underneath his hoodie and I have no doubt that that is a shirt with a funny print on. It looks like he's about to pass out, either from exhaustion or sleep I don't know. But most of all, he seems confused.

I take a deep breath; I have to help him somehow. If he stays here much longer, he will be found by the military tomorrow morning and if I'm right, he will know nothing of what he's talking about and then the Homunculi will know that he's here. That could end up badly for him no matter if Father or Dante is the leader. I can name a lot of things they would find him interesting for and different things they could do to him and none of them are pretty.

"Hey, are you alright?"

The boy removes the hand from his face, looking at me with blank green eyes. Huh, he's kind of handsome… I did not just think that… Focus, Gloria!

"Who are you..?"

Damn, that voice sounds smooth and dusky… Agh! Stop it! To distract me from my own thoughts, I walk forward until I'm in front of the boy, sitting down so that he doesn't have to crane his neck to look at me. I don't want to seem threatening after all. I clear my throat as my thoughts once again are lead astray to his beautiful eyes to bring me back to reality.

"I'm Gloria Dementor. I'm in the very same situation that you are."

"… What do you mean?"

Oh-my-fudges-he-sounds-like-a-lost-puppy,-that's-so-fudging-CUTE! I shake my head to get rid of those thoughts, clearing my throat again as I look off to the side, away from his cute and confused looking expression.

"I also died in that plane crash and ended up here. And yes, we really died. Although, I had no idea you got dragged into this mess as well. I'm glad I was the first one to find you though."

"So… You're like me?"

I nod, looking at him again through the corner of my eye, blushing slightly as I look into his pretty eyes. No. I. Do. Not. Blush! I just got red in the face because of the cool breeze, alright! I don't care what you say, that does make sense!

"Yeah, I came from Tipton, Tennessee, you?"

"…Newcastle, Tennessee."

"Huh, same state, same plane and ending up in the same world. What a coincidence."

"Yeah, I guess… Wait, world?"

By now, the boy's fog has lifted up a little and I can tell that he's thinking clearer now. I smile slightly, nodding sadly as I meet his gaze head on.

"Yeah, we're in a completely new world now. We're in a city called Central in a land called Amestris. The whole country is controlled by the military, the leader being a 'Fürer' much like the Germans had long ago. They use a kind of magic called 'Alchemy', a very scientific kind of magic which makes people able to reform material into something new. It's really complicated, but I know a lot about this world. More than you would ever do."

The boy frowns in confusion, thinking over my description of the world we are in. I just hope he believes me, if someone told me that I was in a whole new world after I woke up from unconsciousness, I wouldn't believe them. Although, it helps knowing that you really died in a plane crash.

"Can you prove it?"

"Ehm, what?"

He looks at me sternly, daring me to disagree with his request. It seems like he doesn't want to repeat himself so I nod. I snap my fingers first, making the array on my metal wristband glow blue as I control my personal water and make it slip out from my bottles. The boy watches my water in wonder, his eyes widening as I bend the water with just a twitch of my fingers. I then clap my hands, imagining the right circle in my mind and pressing them against the ground to bend up a small earth bird. Although deformed, you can see that it's a bird.

The boy's eyes flicker between the floating water, the deformed bird and finally setting on me. I can see that he's majorly freaked out although once he sees my smile; he takes a deep breath to calm himself down. I make the bird sink into the ground again by another clap of my hands and will the water to go back into my bottles. After a few more deep breaths, the boy look at me, although still a little stunned, and gives me a smile.

"It's a lot to take in but… I believe you I guess. There's no other logical solution. I did die after all."

I stare, stunned at his smile. I can feel my cheeks heat up a little in a NOT BLUSH and I look off to the side quickly. Oh-my-fudges-his-smile-is-so-bright-and-pretty-kyaaaaa! I stop myself from thinking anything more. Did… I… just… … No, I didn't. It never happened. Damn this boy for being so fucking cute and handsome and so much like my first crush. Damn him… Alright, back to reality.

"Soooo, what's your name?" I ask him as I casually stand up, holding my hand out for him to take.

The boy eyes my hand, as if he's unsure whether he should take it or not. But one glance at my slightly smiling face makes him come to a decision and grabbing my hand. I pull him up to his feet steadying him as he's about to fall forward from the blood rushing to his head. When he can stand on his own, he lets go of my hand, replying to my question with a smile of his own. He's at least a head taller than I am…

"I'm Andrew, Andrew Ford. It's nice to see someone who's in a similar situation as I am. Nice to meet you Gloria."

I nod in agreement before I make my way out from the alley. Andrew seems like a cool guy so far. Although, I have to be on my toes from now on, you never know who or when the homunculi could strike.

"Come on, let's get you to the hotel. You're smelly."

"Hehe, alright." He says, slightly embarrassed, as he follows me. As we're walking down the street, the evening getting darker, I can almost feel how many question he has. He's dying to ask me a lot of things, I just know it. But I can't talk about it like this in the open, Envy might hear us. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or stuff, but I would rather be safe than take any risks with this topic.

"H-hey, Gloria? I-"

"I'm sorry, but I can't answer your questions here in the open. You have no idea what kind of ears might hear us when we talk. If it's heard by the wrong people, it's over and done for us. So wait until we get to the hotel."

Andrew sighs slightly in disappointment, walking up on my left with his hands in his hoodie pockets. But he nether less keep quiet. But having a harmless conversation wouldn't hurt, would it?

"Soooo, how old are you anyways?"

Andrew looks down at me with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't you just say that we should talk when we're back at the hotel?"

I wave my hand in front of me in a dismissal motion. "About the special topic, yes. But it wouldn't hurt to know more about you on the way there, right? So how old are you?"

Andrew gets a very proud grin on his face, flashing his teeth in a sexy way. … I did NOT just think that…

"Well, I just got 14."

"Whaaaat!? Seriously? You're 14? But with your height and attitude I was sure you were 16 or something."

Andrew chuckles lowly in amusement, keeping up his grin with his eye crinkling in amusement. How can he be so handsome and cute at the same time…?

"Yeah, that's what everyone tells me. How about you missy? How old are you?"

I sigh slightly, my shoulders slumping in disappointment as I realise how complicated my age is. "I'm kind of 16 I guess."

"Kind of 16? That doesn't really answer the question."

"It's complicated alright? So what's your favourite colour?"

"That's easy, red. You?"

"Mine's green. What's you-"

Andrew cuts me off by putting up his finger in the air and then pointing that finger at me.

"No, now's my turn to ask. What's your hobby?"

"Building and researching all kind of technology. I'm even able to build my own stuff!"

Andrew's eyes grow wide in surprise at my hobby but he soon gives me a smile.

"Wow, so you can build a phone or radio?"

"Yeah, all sorts of stuff. But what's your hobby?"

Andrew stretches up his back in pride.

"Mine's to sing and play guitar, I'm quite good at it if I do say so myself."

I give him a teasing grin, amusement dancing in my eyes.

"Just don't get too cocky."

"Hey, I am good at it!"

I hold up my hands in surrender at his outburst, keeping the grin on my face.

"I won't believe you until you show me."

"Alright, I will show you when I get my hands on one."

"Good, now what's- hey, there's the hotel." I cut myself off as I see the hotel me, Ed and Al are staying at. I walk a little faster, beckoning Andrew over. The sun has already gone down for the day and I still haven't eaten any diner. I was too busy talking to Andrew to even think about it anyways. But it's too late to get dinner now.

I hold up the entrance door for him as I step inside the building. Nodding towards the receptionist in greeting, I lead Andrew towards the stairs which will lead us to the room we're staying at. I haven't thought even once that Edward might get angry with me for bringing a stranger inside our room, but now that I think about it, I really wish that they're not at the room yet. Although, when I open the door with my key, my hopes are crushed as I see Edward and Alphonse lounging in the couch, reading a book.

When they hear the door opening, they look towards me, both of them saying their respective greeting before turning back to reading. But when they realised that I had someone else with me, they both look at me again at the same time, their gazes being drawn towards Andrew who's awkwardly standing behind me while rubbing his arm. Edward is the first to react, snapping his book shut, standing up from the couch and point right at Andrew with an angry pose.

"Who is he and what is he doing here?"

I look back towards Andrew, noticing his confused expression and lifting my eyebrow in question. I decide to ignore it for now, nodding him inside to follow me and enter the room fully. Edward didn't take this lightly, now he's even more rigid.

"Gloria, who is he?" Aah, the ever sweet Alphonse. Thank you for calming down your brother a little. Although, this isn't the time for pleasant talk, I have to convince them, namely Ed, to let Andrew stay with us.

I snap my fingers, making my water push in the hesitating Andrew into the room, closing and locking the door behind him I then make the water close the curtains over the window before solidifying to ice over the door so less sound would be heard from this room. Looking at the Elrics, they are now alert because of my actions and how serious I am and I immediately go to the point.

"He's from the other side, just like I am."

Both of them tense up at this, Edward seating himself on the couch again to listen to what else I have to say. With a single word, the tension in the room rises.

"Explain."

I nod, bringing a chair for Andrew with me and placing it in front of the brothers. I give Andrew a meaning look, pointing at the chair and he nervously moves from his spot against the door to sit down in the chair, looking much more conflicted than he did before. Having used all of my water to create an Ice barrier against the door, I decide to stand where I am next to Andrew. Then I proceed to explain.

"After I finished de-coding my father's research, I went out for a walk. I then ended up meeting Andrew here. He was mumbling to himself in an alley about dying in a plane crash. Planes only exist on our side of the gate but I have no idea how or why he came here with me. When I realised that he's from my home, my country, my state, I couldn't just leave him there. We from the other side have enemies here, enemies who don't even know that they need us yet. If I had left him where he was, the military would have gotten to him. He would be questioned on where he lives, what his purpose is for being here and he wouldn't be able to answer. That, in itself, would have caught our enemies' attention. So I brought him here. He needs to know more about this world and he needs someone to hold him in line from being detected by the bastards. And I will take that responsibility on myself. I will not let someone from my world get corrupted."

Edward stares at me calmly and I meet his gaze in determination. It feels like if I back out from this, I will lose a competition. And I do not want to lose.

"How can you be so sure you can protect him from the enemies you speak of? You're not an alchemist yet and you can barely use any other alchemy than your own personal one. And what do you mean with him being corrupted?"

I narrow my eyes at the blonde, crossing my arms under my still-developing-breasts and thus seeming much like my normal age that the age this body has.

"I don't care if I can't perform perfect alchemy like you two can, if my alchemy isn't enough to protect him then I will use my life. But I will become stronger for every day; train my alchemy so I get better and better so that I can protect both of us. And he can easily be fooled in this world. He knows nothing of it and if he, anyone really in this situation, would be provided information for working with them, I have no doubt that he would accept it."

We have a stare down for a few more seconds before Edward closes his eyes in acceptance. I mentally cheer with joy as he lets Andrew stay, but under the condition that should he do something stupid the punishment will be on me. I grin broadly in response, patting Andrew's shoulder as I promise to do so. With that, the tense atmosphere vanishes and I face Andrew with a grin. He still has a quizzical look on his face.

"Now that that's solved, you, mister, have to take a shower. You need to get that wax and dirt out from your hair."

Andrew pouts cutely in disappointment but agrees anyway, making me promise that I'll explain everything after his shower, and walks into the bathroom. I stare after him with a thoughtful frown on my face. How DID he follow me here? If he came with me through the gate, shouldn't he appear at the same place I did? And why didn't he appear at the same time as I? Maybe Truth accidentally pulled in him as well? But he can't have pulled him out 10 days later, at that time he would have already been long gone. Could he have stayed in the gate longer than I did? That could explain his dazed expression and confusion. But how did he get through? He must have paid some kind of toll, right? I will have to ask him about that later.

With a snap of my fingers, the ice is removed from the door and the water goes back to my bottles. I untie my make-shift belt with my bottles on and put it on the coffee table in front of the couch. I can feel the brother's gazes on me and I look up to meet their eyes. They're looking at me as if I'm crazy or something and I raise an eyebrow in question.

"What is it? Have I done something wrong? You said it was ok for him to stay."

Alphonse and Edward glance at each other, Edward raising an eyebrow and letting the younger brother to talk first.

"Gloria, what did you say to him?"

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion at his question. Why would they ask that? Didn't they hear me?

"I… told him to shower…? Why are you asking me? You heard it didn't you?"

Edward narrows his eyes at me, eyeing me as if I'm a new animal species he just discovered. His gaze makes me uncomfortable and just when I'm about to ask them what it is, Edward interrupts me.

"We didn't understand what you said, because you spoke in another language it seems."

I blink in surprise at his statement, leaning back in the chair and scratching my cheek. I spoke in another language? How could I have done that? It just… came so naturally to me. I must have spoken in the same language this whole time, haven't I? Sure, I know Spanish, but I didn't speak any Spanish when I spoke to Andrew.

"I… spoke in another language? No, I didn't, I've spoken in the same language as I always have. And why would I have to speak in another language for Andrew?"

Edward scratches his chin in thought, his intense gaze almost going through me. I shift nervously in my chair, looking at Alphonse instead for help. Alphonse flinches in surprise at my look, as if snapping out from a daze, and quickly elaborates.

"Well, when you spoke to us, you spoke normally but by the looks Andrew gave us, he didn't understand a word we said. Then when you spoke to Andrew, you immediately changed to another language. When you spoke in that language, Andrew understood you."

"It must be something about him being from the other side of the gate." Ed thinks outloud, still looking at me with that unnerving gaze. "Maybe something went wrong in his passing and he can't speak nor understand our language, but only the language you had on your side. Since you, yourself, are from your side, you automatically know how to speak your language. You unconsciously change language when you're speaking to him since you know he's from your side. That must be the reason, there's no other reason I can think of."

I furrow my brows in thought. That seems like a pretty accurate hypothesis. It makes sense to why I didn't notice that I changed language. And if Edward can't come up with another reason, I doubt that I would come up with something else. Maybe something went wrong inside the gate for him and that's why his appearing was delayed and he doesn't know the Amestrisian language…

Before I get the chance to say anything else, Andrew opens the bathroom door enough to let his head stick out. Steam sipper out from the door and a sheepish, dripping Andrew turns his attention to me. I can feel my cheeks heat up a little at seeing his former spiky hair hang down his face but I compose myself and meet his eyes with a smile.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Do you happen to have any new clothes I can borrow?"

I raise an eyebrow at him, looking at Edward and Alphonse before giving Andrew a deadpan look.

"Does it look like any of our clothes will fit you, you tall bastard?"

He blinks in realisation, looking at the reading Edward who's ignoring our exchange of words, Alphonse who's doing the same and me before he finally realise that I'm right. He grins brightly in pride but even though says 'my bad' and closes the door again. I sigh tiredly once he's out of sight, since Edward didn't react to what neither I nor Andrew said about Andrew being taller, I must have been talking in another language. Although that doesn't stop me from feeling slightly depressed. I'm the oldest and I'm shorter than them all… No, I'm not short. I'm in normal height. It's just everybody else who is freakishly tall.

"You spoke in another language again." Edward states before he continues to read. I frown slightly, snapping my fingers to play with my water. I have to come up with a performance that I will show on the exam. I will obviously use my water alchemy but I don't know what I'll do.

The second time the bathroom door opens, Andrew is fully clothed in his clothes but with the hoodie hanging over his arm. Like I thought, the red shirt he wore underneath was a shirt with a funny print. It's a shadow picture with death and a child holding hands with a text above them. It reads 'Paramore two different worlds'. Huh, how ironic.

"That's a pretty ironic shirt you have." Andrew grins smugly at my comment, standing next to the couch. He turns towards the Elrics and give them a small salute in greeting.

"I guess I never introduced myself. Hi, I'm Andrew Ford. Newly made friend of Gloria."

When the brothers doesn't reply him but only looks at him blankly, I decide to catch his attention.

"Ehm, Andrew. They don't understand what you're saying."

He looks at me, surprised at what I'm saying before looking at the brothers with a tilt of his head.

"Ooooh, that's right. I never understood what you said to them. Cool, how did you learn a new language so well?" At the last sentence, he looks at me with a bright grin with his eyes shining in admiration. I blush slightly at the compliment but I shake my hands in front of me in denial.

"N-no, I didn't learn it from scratch. I just knew the language when I came here. I don't really know why you don't know the language though."

"Ok, what are you two talking about?"

I look at Edward sheepishly, scratching the back of my head as I realised I completely ignored them.

"I-I'm sorry, we just talked about how he didn't know your language. But anyways, he introduced himself as Andrew Ford."

Alphonse bows slightly to him in greeting while Edward simply looks at him from the corner of his eye.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Alphonse Elric and this is my older brother, Edward Elric."

Andrew's looks at me with a raised eyebrow until I repeat what they said in our language. He then grins brightly as he nods at the two respectively. He then turns towards me with a more serious expression and I too get more serious automatically.

"Now, could you explain how we got here? How your age is complicated and what I'm supposed to do now?"

I nod, motioning for him sit down on an ice chair I just created in between the couch and my chair. He sits down without protest. I tell the Erlics that I will tell Andrew the whole story about how I got here and stuff so they wouldn't interrupt my explanation. They both nod and go back to their respective books.

"I should probably start like this; I'm a 16 year old girl, stuck in this 12 year old body after I died in a plane crash. This plane crash was rigged by something called 'Truth'." I then proceed to tell him how Truth called me, how the gate babies stopped the engines, how I paid my toll, met the Elrics and the most important things which has happened up until this point. It isn't until I'm done telling about how my father was originally from this side of the gate that Andrew has sorted his thoughts and asks questions.

"So you were the one running from side to side on the plane, huh? I was sitting next to you back then. But how come I got dragged into this too when he was only after you? Not that I'm not happy to be alive, but I just don't understand."

I cross my arms with a sigh, closing my eyes in thought.

"I don't really know. Maybe you got in contact with the gate when they pulled me in and you automatically got pulled in yourself. But you must have paid a toll to get a body on this side. Do you have any idea what you lost?"

When Andrew doesn't answer immediately, I open my eyes again to see him looking down at his clenched hands in his lap. He knows what he lost but he's ashamed to admit it.

"Andrew, what did you lose?"

"I… Lost my smell and sight in one eye…" My eyes widen at this, Edward and Alphonse, noticing our reactions glances between the two of us with a quizzical look. Andrew looks even more frustrated now than in the beginning. He must be able to see from his right eye… That must be horrible… And to do that to those beautiful eyes as well…

I stand up from my chair, marching over to him determinately and bend down to give him a hug. When he doesn't respond, I hug him tighter to indicate that I'm here and start petting his dry hair. Oh. My. Fudges. His hair is so soft! I can feel myself smile as I continue to run my fingers through his hair. Since we're in an anime world, his hair is a little spikier and defies gravity slightly more than should be possible in our side. It isn't in Naruto style spiky, but more like 'Rin Okimura' Spiky. I could stand here and pet him all day!

"Thank you…" Andrew says quietly as he finally hugs me back. Since I'm not that tall, I didn't have to bend so low to hug him so he can hug me almost normally with his arms around my back.

"It's no problem. That's what friends are for. I won't let you get killed, I promise."

We keep hugging each other like that with me petting his oh-so-awesome-fluffy hair. But the fluffy moment is crushed when Edward asks;

"So, what did he say to get treatment?"

I stop petting Andrew; release him from my hug to glare at Edward. He meets my glare head on, not backing down the slightest.

"He told me what he lost, obviously. He lost smell and sight in one eye."

At this, Edward tenses up slightly, same with Al. Edward nods at the frustrated Andrew in apology. Andrew nods back but then quickly looks off to the side. I start petting his hair again and I can feel him relax slightly. This makes a grin stretch across my face and I continue to pet him.

Best. Fluffiest. Hair. Ever!

…

Alright, I won't deny it, It's too fucking fluffy to be ignored.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A new character has been added! Andrew will play a very important role in the future, you'll see. I also found it quite amusing to write Glorias fan-girl thoughts. :3

And why Andrew wasn't added in the birthday chapter was because I originally thought he would appear after Gloria had taken the exam. But this lovely little plot bunny came up and I'm much more satisfied with this than the original thought I had. Even though Andrew is there, Gloria will still focus on her studying for the alchemist exam.

Again, sorry for the huuuuuge delay. I never meant for it to be this long… So I'm really sorry everyone… Hope this chapter is enough for you to forgive me… TT^TT


	11. State alchemist test, first part

Holy fudge… Why the fudge have I waited this fudging long to write this chapter!? D': I'm so sorry you guys! I really am! TT^TT I have been too focused on reading fanfic this summer that I haven't written anything… Ok, barely anything at least, I've had this chapter half-finished for a while now… But I won't abandon this story! No way! It's one of my babies and I love how everything will change later with plot twists and stuff. So I won't give up on this one, I won't!

But yeah, here it is chapter 9. Nothing much happens in this chapter really… Sorry about that, but there has to be chapters without action sometimes, right? ^^" Enjoy~. :)

Amestrian language

**English language  
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next morning was pretty normal, I and Ed went through the same routine and Andrew stayed with Al while we got ready to leave. They can't talk to each other since they don't know each other's language but they just enjoyed each others' company. Although, I saw a slight problem when I started to tie my net gloves around my waist with the plastic bottles still containing water hanging onto the gloves with ice.

-Riiiitch-

Yup, my gloves just got torn apart…

"Nooooo! My gloves! How can you do this to me!?" I cry out as I sit down on my knees, hugging the gloves tightly. Edward looks down blankly at me while he's putting on his red cloak.

"You knew they would break sooner or later, why are you so surprised?"

I point at him angrily, small tears in the corner of my eyes. Andrew stays put next to Alphonse, having no idea what we're talking about anyway.

"I'm not surprised! I'm miserable! I was supposed to buy a belt for my bottles before the gloves broke so I could still keep them, but now they're broken! Gone! Can't be repaired! They broke in three pieces! I can't use them again! Not even when my body grows older! Now I've lost a piece of my home!"

Edward sighs tiredly, looking at his little brother for help. When Alphonse speaks up, I turn my slightly teary eyes to him instead of Ed, dropping my pointing finger in my lap while the other is still holding onto the glove pieces.

"Gloria, we can always fix them with alchemy, it isn't that difficult." Although the thought of my gloves whole again makes me happy, using alchemy isn't how I want to fix them. Then they would be mixed with the magic of this world and the gloves wouldn't hold the same meaning to me anymore. So I shake my head, wiping my face clean from unshed tears and stand up, still holding onto the glove pieces.

"No, they wouldn't be the same if I mixed alchemy to them…" Snapping my fingers, the four bottles are released from what's left of the net gloves and they fall empty to the floor as the water hover in front of me in a perfect bubble. I turn towards Andrew, an idea forming in my mind. "**Hey, Andrew. Can I borrow your belt just for today? I'll force some money out of Ed so we can go shopping some clothes for us later today.**"

Andrew seems a little surprised by the request, but nods and starts to take off his belt. In the meantime, I point at Edward with a serious look on my face. My finger almost hit him on his nose because we're standing so close to each other- He leans away slightly to get some space from my finger.

"You, mister, will give me and Andrew enough money to shop some clothes for the two of us. He can't go around in the same clothes every day and although Winry's old clothes works for me, I would rather have my own clothing. We'll also need to buy a backpack, two belts, strong thread, a scissor, needle and thin metal rods. Oh, and four empty bottles and four snap hooks."

Edward swats away my finger from his face, frowning at me. I don't know for sure why he's frowning at me. It could be because my finger was almost in his face or it could be that I'm demanding him to give me money. Or it could be both.

"What will you do with those things? And why should I even give you money? For all I know, you could spend it on stupid, unnecessary things."

I take a step closer to Edward, me too frowning at him because of his stubbornness. I hold up a finger as I count up the reasons why he should give me money.

"One, I'm not like most girls who spend money on everything they think is pretty. I personally loathe shopping and won't buy more than I need to." I hold up two fingers. "Two, I need to have something else that keeps my bottles by my side other than freezing them to a belt. I'll make a belt with four 'sections' where I can hang my bottles on." A third finger. "Three, I am older than you, your elder and then you should accept my requests like the good junior you are. And four," I lean back, crossing my arms over my chest as my glare intensifies. "If you don't, I might not tell you the information you need to get closer to your goal."

As I say my last reason, I can hear both brothers suck in a quick breath. I have told them before that I know more than I should, but I guess they've already forgotten about it. Edward composes himself and regards me carefully, searching in my eyes if there's any doubt or hint of lies. But all he finds is that I'm serious. Edward sighs, reaching into his coat to take out his wallet. With a long face, he takes out a few good-summed bills and gives them to me. I smile brightly at him, acting like the tense moment never happened and snatch the money from his hand.

"Thank you, Edward, so nice of you." I say happily while counting the money in my hand. It's 6500 cenz, that's about the same amount as 65 dollars. I've read that Cenz is equal with yen and I think 0,01 dollar is one Yen. So this is a good amount of money for how much we will buy.

I let my water carry the bottles inside its bubble as I walk towards the door, grabbing onto Andrew along the way. I don't want to be close to the brothers when they are thinking about their goal and could possibly ask me questions on what they should do and search for. The story must take its course or everything could be ruined. Maria open the door, I had almost forgot that she and Denny (I recently remembered that his first name is Denny) are guarding Ed and Al in case Scar goes after them. I and Andrew slip out from the open door and I yell a goodbye to them with a confused boy behind me.

Once we're out from their sight, I let go of Andrews arm and take the belt he's holding onto and tie it around my own waist.

"**What was that about, Gloria**?" Andrew asks me as he's rubbing his arm. I might have gripped him a little too hard… Oops…

I walk down the corridor, fastening the bottles to the belt while I'm answering him but not meeting his eyes.

"**I know a lot about this world because it's a Japanese show in our world… I know about their future, which enemies they are going to face and all the weaknesses they have…" **I let the water bubble separate into two and sipper inside the bottles that are now attached to the belt around my waist; I look Andrew in the eyes.** "They know that I know a lot and I've told them that I will tell them information on how to return their bodies back to normal when the time is right. I just threatened Edward that if he didn't give me money, I might not tell them information when they most need it. It was mostly an empty threat since I will help them no matter what, but they don't have to know that.**"

Andrew nods slightly, looking around himself as he puts his hands in his jeans pockets. His red hair with black streaks sways with the motion as he's looking around.

"**It's hard to believe that I'm in another world… The language is different but the buildings look like we're in an older part of a normal town. Is there a lot that's different in this world compared to ours?**" He turns fully towards me so he can see me with his right eye with an interested look. He sure takes the news much better than I thought he would, or he can just be hiding it like I am. At the thought of him faking his emotions, I smile sadly and nod at his question. I look on ahead so I know where we're going, turning around a corner so we can get to the stairs.

"**Yes, the money here is called Cenz and is equal to the Japanese Yen. I think it's the same currency in the whole world although I can't be sure. The technology in our world is waaaay ahead of this one. I think the year is 1914 here so they still have steam train and they don't have mobiles but use telephone booths and home phones to contact each other. There is no computer and not many machines but this world focus more on developing alchemy instead of developing technology. But it's still modern in its own ways. Like the clothing, robotic limbs and weapons for war. They haven't invented the atom bomb yet and I hope they never will, it's devastating enough with simple alchemy.**"

"**So this… magic, alchemy. What is it exactly?**" He asks me wearily as we start to go down the stairs to the lobby.

"**Alchemy is science. It's manipulating and altering matter using natural energy to make it take a desired shape or form. You have to know a lot about chemistry and alchemic circles for the alchemy to work. Chemistry because you have to know what material everything is made out of so you can then draw the circle you use to manipulate that material and then change the material into the desired shape using energy. You need to have a high intelligence to be able to use alchemy in the right way and these people are called alchemists. All alchemists go after the principal 'equivalent exchange', that you can't gain something without sacrificing something of equal value. That's the main principal of alchemy.**"

I stop by the receptionist to get directions to the shopping district and after that, we walk out from the hotel to the slightly bustling street. It's still pretty early in the morning but the city is just waking up. I continue my explanation to Andrew, not minding what I say since I now know that no one else will understand what we're saying.

"**I'm an alchemist, just like Edward and Alphonse, but unlike them I can't seem to manipulate solid material in the way I want to most of the time. That's why I stick to manipulating liquid instead because I, for some reason, have a natural talent to manipulate it. This array I have engraved into my bracelet, it's a mixed transmutation circle for 'water' and 'control'. I didn't know that I imagined this circle sub consciously until I tried the circle they made. Now, I see the transmutation circle I use inside my mind if I focus enough… It's… strange to suddenly realize that I've been able to do this since I was a little girl…**"

I shake my head to disperse of those thoughts and I take Andrew by the arm again so I can drag him towards the shopping district I got directions to. Not minding others, I smile a huge smile as I'm skipping along with Andrew jogging lightly to catch up to me.

"**But never mind that, we have things to do and places to go! I also need to study for the alchemy test I'm doing in a few days. And since Edward and Alphonse are trying to crack a code, I'll let you do the work of creating my belt while we read. We could make it with alchemy but since you won't have anyone to talk to, I figured that you wouldn't want to be bored.**"

Andrew lets himself get dragged without any complain. Or he could be too much in thought to notice that I'm even dragging him with me. I wonder what will happen now; I have a defenseless boy to protect now… I will put myself in dangerous situations but I have to keep him out of it as much as possible. I won't allow him to get hurt if I can help it. Father is looking for people who have seen the gate and survived, both Andrew and I did. So that means that there exist six sacrifices for the promised day… When the promised day happens, Roy won't have to lose his eyesight because I'm there as the fifth sacrifice… I won't let Andrew go through the mental trauma of seeing an eye in your stomach! I will at least be prepared for it so it's better if it's me.

To shop with Andrew is actually kind of fun… much more fun than I remember it to be. He's really cute when he suggests clothes for us to try just to get a laugh since they look so wrong. And since no one understands our language, we take delight in confusing other shoppers by screaming across the store to each other. He seems really happy to go shopping like this with me, just like a little kid. I've decided to adopt him to my little brother; he sure got the adorable look down and he is younger than me so it works in my mind. It unnerves me when I think that he's handsome and my first crush comes to mind, but I shake those thoughts away immediately when they pop up. It's not until we've visited three stores that we're done shopping for clothes, and only that took four hours. We could have taken longer if I had let us, but I couldn't stay in a clothes store for forever.

Finding a tool shop, we buy the things I need for my special belt, added with bottles and bending tools. We then make our way to the library I know the brothers are cooped up in trying to solve Marco's notes. I know my father's book is there as well, but I know Ed will demand that I read a few alchemy books before I get to read my father's book again. Although I have all alchemy information in my brain thanks to Truth, he says that it isn't enough to know alchemy but you have to understand it as well. It makes sense but I suppose it will still be boring because it will be like repeating the same stuff in class over and over again.

Andrew will have it much more interesting when he makes the belt… Oh, and he agreed to make it since he doesn't want to be bored, although I wouldn't have given him any choice in the matter. He had a B in metal crafting in school so I can leave the project in his hands without any unnecessary worry. I'll still draw up instructions for him but that's just me being paranoid since I want the belt to look in a specific way.

"Gloria! Where did you run off to?! And who is that boy!?"

I stop talking to Andrew as I hear the voice of Maria. I didn't realize that we've arrived at the library and already have come to the room where Ed and Al are doing their research. I turn towards her with a bright smile, waving my free hand towards her and Denny. Maria seems angry although Denny just seems relieved.

"Hi Maria! Hi Denny! We've been out shopping!"

Maria stomps over to meet us and when we meet, she grab one of my cheeks and pull, making me chant 'ow' in pain.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?! You were gone for five hours! It doesn't take that long to buy supplies and clothes! What were you doing!? And again, who is that boy!? I haven't seen him before!"

When she releases my cheek so I can speak, I rub it to help get over the pain a little. Andrew snickers at my misery and with a snap of my finger; he shuts up when he gets a hard gibb-slap with my water. (You know, when you hit the back of someone's head) I answer Maria's question in order.

"Well, I didn't know you would get that worried. I thought you were only supposed to look after Edward as a mission and not just me… And we were goofing around. We had fun suggesting weird clothing to each other. I can't see how that's wrong and we also had to eat, we didn't eat breakfast before we left and we also had to eat lunch. And Maria, meet Andrew, my new brother! He comes from the same place as I do and we speak the same language but he doesn't know that much Amestrisian. I found him yesterday and when I realized we come from the same country, I decided to help him after I convinced Edward and Alphonse!"

Maria blinks in shock and Denny walks closer to us so he can join the conversation.

"Wait, you're from another country? I didn't know that."

I rub the back of my head out of habit and look between the two officers.

"Well, I'm kinda from another country. My father is from Amestris and my mother was an outsider. I have learned both languages fluently since I was a baby. Mother spoke in her language and Father in his."

That is half true, even though I don't fully understand how father came to our side of the gate. The answer seems to satisfy the officers and they let the fact that I have a stranger with me slide. Maria sighs tiredly, holding onto her head in exhaustion.

"Honestly, what will I do with you kids? This is too much worry for me to handle."

"Then don't worry." I state simply, Maria look down at me in surprise while I smile at her comfortably. "You don't have to worry about my safety. I'm a tough girl and I can handle myself. I don't only rely on my alchemy."

Maria smiles hesitantly, Denny does the same.

"Alright, but you better continue on telling us where you're going. Or else we will worry." Denny says, his smile getting more easy going. I grin at him, nodding my head happily.

"Of course!"

I then turn to Andrew, holding up one of the bags containing materials for my special belt.

"**Come on, let's go inside and get to work.**" I walk past Denny and Maria towards the door, opening it and stepping inside. The sight before me is just how I expected it to be, books and papers littered everywhere with the two brothers in the middle of the mess, hunched over their notes. I smile slightly at the sight, hearing Andrew close the door behind him before I walk towards them.

"Hi, Edward, Alphonse! How is the research going?"

But I don't get a response from them, only mumbles from Edward which is obviously a way to think better for him. I laugh a little at their lack of response and go over to an empty space on the floor, putting down the two plastic bags I'm holding. I turn around, looking up at Andrew with my hands on my hips.

"**Alright, I've explained how it should look like, but do you need a draft to get a clear picture of it? It won't take long for me to make.**"

Andrew shakes his head, putting down the clothing bags and backpack to lean against the wall before approaching me, sitting down on the floor as he's talking.

"**Nope, you don't have to do that. I might not have photographic memory, but I am pretty good at remembering stuff.**" I grin at him, ruffling his soft hair just because I can, looking into his right eye.

"**Good, I'll have to read up on alchemy. There's an important test coming up soon and I aim to pass it to help the brothers more in their quest. If there's anything you need help with, or more elaboration on, just shout out to me and I'll come. Ok, I might be in my own world so if I don't respond after 10 shouts, hit me and I'll come out from it.**" I cross my arms over my chest, nodding my head at my words. Yup, I'll be out of it if I read alchemy. I wonder if Ed already has picked out the books for me…

I go off, leaving Andrew to work on my belt, and search for a pile of books that could be meant to me. I find a pile on the table where the first book is 'beginner alchemy' so I pick it up and start reading on the chair Alphonse previously occupied before he went to the floor. A comfortable working silence wraps around the room as we all do our own thing. It's really nice; I wish my time in this world could always be this peaceful… But soon, the lab five will happen. That's when shit goes down and everything becomes dangerous. And now, Andrew will be a part of that danger…

I wish he never got dragged into this mess with me, it would have been better for him to live in our world…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The last days before the state alchemist test flies by fast and I'm now standing in front of the military HQ to take part of it. The building looks huge, much larger than I thought it would be. It's mocking me for my small size, I know it. No one would go here with me, Andrew could have come, but I don't want him close to military personal just yet.

He did a really good job on my new belt though; I have it around my waist so the bottles start right above my hip. The bottles have a metal ring around them to connect them to the hook that's fastened into the belt. The bottles are sealed with ice even in this hot weather and instead of those bottles I picked up from Resembool, I've swapped them with fresher ones that aren't scraped on its surface. And I also have four now instead of two, deciding that more water would be more effective to use than less. After a while of playing with the new water, I could control it just as easily as the 'original' water I got from Resembool.

I take a deep breath, steeling my nerves by tightening my pony tails that are on the top of my head like always. With determined strides, I follow the stream of grown-ups, who most likely will take the state alchemist test, to where the test will be at. Much like I thought, the stream of adults, who are mostly men, lead me to an open doorway with two guards standing in front of it, looking bored. I am just about to enter the room when one of the guards grab onto my arm, stopping me. I look up at him, blinking in surprise at being stopped.

"Woah there, where do you think you're going?"

I decide to drop my act for now so they'll see me as more mature and let me in. So I frown at him and wrench my arm out from his grip.

"I'm taking the state alchemist test, what does it look like?"

The man pulls me aside so people can enter the room more freely, since I blocked one side of the huge double door. He bends down so he's in my height and places his hands on my shoulders, a fake smile on his face. My frown grows deeper when I see that fake smile of his, treating me like a kid, huh? I'm not just any kid you'll encounter on these types of occasions.

"This test is only for those who have practiced alchemy for a really long time and wants to work for the army to help good people. I don't think you've practiced just enough to do this yet; maybe you should wait a few years? I'm sure they'll accept you in the army by then."

I push away his hands from my shoulders, glaring at him full-force while leaking out some killer intent on purpose. The man stiffens at my reaction and he starts to sweat a little. Time to convince him.

"Listen here, mister soldier. I will be taking that State alchemist test. I know more about alchemy than your brain could possibly process. I can give you three reasons why you should let me in. One, I have photographic memory; I remember everything I've read and will ever read. Two, I have a really strong alchemy that could be very useful to the military which I can use with the snap of my fingers. And three, if you don't let me in-" I snap my fingers with my right hand, making the marking on the bracelet I wear glow so I can control the water I have in my bottles. I bring out a small stream of water, making it freeze into sharp ice right in front of his eyes. "I will let myself in even without your agreement. I'm not some normal kid you meet on the streets."

The soldier looks at my ice for a while before sighing a little nervously, standing up straight and motioning me to get inside. I let my water sipper back into its bottle, a victorious smile on my face and I step inside the room. Inside are rows upon rows of tables and everyone has formed a line to the desk at the bottom of the classroom, where most likely the teacher would stand if this was a lesson. I stand in line, waiting for my turn. When I reach the desk, the only thing the man in charge did was to raise an eyebrow in surprise before asking me quick questions about myself and then giving me a number pad, leaving me on my own to find my assigned place.

After I saw the drawing on the blackboard of the seat numbers, it was easy to find where I should be. Seat 68 already has a small stack of papers that's most likely the test and a pen beside the papers. The seat 67 is already occupied by a man with glasses but I don't pay attention to him but rather stare at the stack of papers. No wonder no one finishes the test completely, the pile is quite large, larger than I thought it would be.

I breathe in and out to calm my nerves. I grip onto the pen that's been placed in front of me and stare ahead with a blank face, waiting for the test to begin. Maybe I should stop my child-acting now. It won't do well for others to underestimate me during the exams… But also, I could surprise them majorly when I show them what I can do. So play it safe or get reactions of shock… Hmm… Such a hard decision… I'll decide after all this, after all it's the second test that's the interview.

"Alright!" The man I received my seat from calls out to everyone present in the room. The conversations dim down and everyone grows tense. This is it. "You have 110 minutes to write on this test. After the time is up, I'll ask you to drop your pen on the table and lean away from the test. There will be no breaks during this time. Now, you may begin!" He says, pressing a button on an alarm clock that's placed on the teacher's desk.

At the same time, everyone pick up the first paper in the stack and start reading through the test. My eyes scan over the first paper from beginning to end before I start scribbling in the answer.

_What are the three important sequences an alchemist must grasp? Obviously it's Comprehension, Deconstruction and Reconstruction. Is it possible to create a glass through transmuting sand? Obviously it's a yes. What's with these questions? They're so easy._

But that's only in the beginning I thought this was easy. It gradually got harder as you cleared the answers of each paper. By the fourth paper, I can hear people around me stop writing to think for a while before they get into their rhythm again.

_I take it back; this test is much harder than I thought it would be. If I had been a normal child, I would have never gotten through this even if I had studied alchemy my whole life. Ed and Al are truly geniuses for passing this test at such young age._

A new admiration for the brothers grows larger as I slowly go through the test. My photographical memory only gets me so far and I'm constantly getting stuck on the motivation questions. I'm on page 6 and when I glanced at the person next to me, he has about 10 papers left whereas I have 14. This isn't good… I look down towards the teacher table where the alarm clock is. I only have 20 minutes left!?

I answer the questions as well as I can and by the end of our test, I reach page 11 although my answers were hurried and surely doesn't make much sense. I breathe a heavy sigh when I hear the alarm clock ring out and the man down below calls on us to drop our pens. I do as told, lean back and think over how horrible that went. My head is heated up by thinking so much, it feels like National test all over again but much worse this time. We are directed out from the room and are requested to come back later during the day to see who's passed and who haven't.

I'm dragging a gloom cloud with me as I slowly walk towards the library Ed and Al are studying Marco's notes at. I wonder what Andrew is doing. Maybe building something else out from the scrap metal he got from making my belt, who knows? Ugh… I'm too tired to think about it right now…

As I'm stumbling through the hall towards the room Ed and Al are studying in, Maria and Denny notice my sour mood and approach me half-way. I allow myself to fall forward into Maria's arms once she's close enough to catch me, a little bit overdramatic, I know, but I like being dramatic if you haven't noticed yet.

"Gloria! What happened!?"

"Did you fail!?" Both Maria and Denny ask me with concern lacing their voices. I open an eye, tiredly looking up at the two of them from my position in Maria's arms. I close my eye again, heaving out a heavy sigh and frown at my still hot head.

"I don't understand how he made it through that exam… It was so hard… 20 pages of motivation and evaluation questions… 110 minutes is too little time… It feels like the test was easier this year as well… My brain is fried… I've thought too much…"

Maria lifts me up and I can feel that we're walking in the direction to the room the boys are in. Denny is the one who opens the door and I can hear Maria's voice speak to the brothers.

"Edward-san, Alphonse-san, Andrew-kun. Gloria just came back but she's exhausted. I'll go back to your room and let her rest there. I hope you don't mind that I'll leave my post for a short while."

"Yeah… ok…" Ed mumbles, obviously distracted. But I can hear the sound of metal being dropped to the floor and Andrew's shout directly afterwards as he is the only one who reacts to me being exhausted.

"**Gloria! Are you alright!? What happened!?**"

I open an eye and meet the eyes of a frantic Andrew, but I close it again and snuggle into Maria's chest. I'm steadily growing sleepier as I'm lying in the woman's arms. She has a certain calming effect on me.

"**I did the test… Like a national test in our side… 20 pages… 110 minutes… motivation and evaluation questions… I made it to 11 pages… My brain is fried…**"

Andrew sighs in relief when he hears that it isn't anything serious and that's when the youngest brother notice that I'm lying in Maria's arms thoroughly exhausted.

"Huh? Gloria? What happened to her?" Alphonse asks. I groan in response, silently asking one of the soldiers to explain the situation to him. Maria, noticing my state, says that Denny will tell them about it and walks away to put me in bed. As I steadily get closer to dreamland, I remember about the results being posted later during the day. I have to tell Maria to check on them for me so I can get to my interview appointment later.

"Maria…"

"Hm?" She asks me kindly but don't stop walking towards our destination.

"My number was 67… the result will be posted later… could you check them out later today…?"

I don't get the opportunity to hear her answer because that's when sleep takes over me.

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"Maria! Maria! How did it go!? Did I pass!?" I ask the woman excitedly. I've been sleeping for a few hours and I'm sure that she's checked on the results by now. I really want to know how it went!

Maria stares at me, faking innocence with a small smile on her face.

"What do you mean?"

I stomp my feet into the ground in frustration, frowning at her since she's obviously faking it.

"Don't play dumb with me! The state alchemist exam! You looked at the results, didn't you?!"

Maria holds up her hands in the air, trying to calm me down while glancing to the side.

"Yes, I did. Calm down." She takes down her hands, her smile growing larger. "You passed. Your interview will be tomorrow at 12am."

My face almost splits in two at my large grin and I start jumping in my place in glee. "Yes! Yes! I passed! I knew I would pass but anyway, I passed! I fudging passed the first test! I thought I would die due to overheating my brain! Yes!"

Just then, Andrew walks out from the library with something in his hands. I have the sudden urge to glomp him so I do just that with my huge grin still in place. We fall to the ground with Andrew cushioning my fall. Denny lets out a small chuckle at the display. I can't see Andrew's face, but I'm sure it looks funny right now with me snuggling up to him.

"**Andrew! Andrew! You won't believe what just happened! I passed the fudging test! I passed! I'm one step closer to being a state alchemist!**" I squeeze him tighter when he starts to struggle in my grasp. "**Once this is done, I'll be able to access a lot more information in the library! There's only so much you can learn from watching an anime after all! Gosh, Andrew! I'm one step closer to reaching the title of a state alchemist! It's amazing!**"

I suddenly get hit very hard in the head and this causes me to lose my grip on Andrew. I hear Andrew breathing hard and that's when I realize that I've been hugging him too hard. I look up from my position on his chest and sure enough, Andrew is regaining his breath with a red face. I blush a little in embarrassment since I didn't realize that I hugged him too hard and smile sheepishly at him.

"**Hehe… Sorry Andrew.**"

He opens his good eye, grinning back at me but not moving to stand up anytime soon, he must regain his breath first after all.

"**No worries. But congratulations.**" I continue to stare at him, finding my place on top of his chest very comfortable. After a while of just staring at him, the atmosphere starts to turn awkward. I grin at that, kicking my feet into the air. I'm well aware of Maria, Denny, Ed and Al looking at us but I don't care at the moment.

"**Ehm… Gloria?**" Andrew starts; looking up at what I presume is the others. My grin just grows wider, snuggling into his chest with my arms supporting my head.

"**Yeeees?**" I ask him teasingly, knowing full well what he's about to ask. Andrew look indicates that he knows that I'm not getting off anytime soon but he asks me anyway.

"**Would you mind maybe, I don't know, get off me?**"

"**No, I like it here.**" I tell him with a smug grin. Although the amused voice of Edward breaks our beautiful, awkward moment while he nudges my side with his foot.

"Got to a room to hug over your boyfriend, you're in the way."

I gape up at Edward, horrified that he would say something like that but I feel even more horrified when I feel my cheeks growing hot at the thought of Andrew being my boyfriend. It's like my crush all over again! I sit on top of Andrew, pointing an accusing finger at Edward as I give him a taste of his own medicine.

"I don't like him that way! And what about you!? When are you going to confess to her, huh?!"

Edward's own cheeks are stained red at what I'm saying and he tenses up, uncrossing his arms from his chest to point right back at me. He knows exactly who I'm talking about.

"T-That doesn't have to do with anything of you being in the way! And stop saying stupid things like that!"

I stand up, stepping closer to Edward so I can glare at him more fiercely, my blush gone by now.

"If you don't want to discuss your love life, then don't stick your nose in another one's! Focus more on solving those notes Marco has published!"

"Ha!" Edward exclaims proudly, a smirk forming on his face and he leans forward with a teasing gaze. I instinctively lean backwards when he leans closer to me. "See, you didn't deny it! That means you DO like him!"

I blush when I realize my mistake in not telling him that I don't like Andrew a second time. He's so fudging annoying sometime! Why did I even like this guy when he was an anime character? I growl at him, my frown growing deeper at his irritating attitude. Is this how Edward feels when Roy is teasing him? This is humiliating!

"I don't like him like that!" I scream at the younger teen, punching him square in the face and making him fly backwards into the library again. Edward crash against the table in the middle of the room, rubbing his nose in pain once he's sitting on the floor with a now broken table supporting him. Alphonse cries out in worry for his brother and run forward to help him up. Sometimes I just love the destruction anime physics allows you to do. If that had been in the real world, Edward would have just fallen to the ground and not fly backwards and break a table.

I huff in irritation and turn away from the two brothers, pushing past a stunned Andrew with my face still burning in either embarrassment or humiliation, I don't know which ones of those it is. Andrew being my boyfriend? Hah! Never! He's more of a brother to me! Besides, we're going at war with homunculi; I don't have the time or the heart to start loving anyone in that special way. I don't want to create too many bonds with anyone who I know could die in the war.

After all, love is like a double edged sword, you'll soon end up cutting yourself and the ones around you if you get too attached.

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And a little fluff there at the end. ^^

Like I said, nothing much happened this chapter. The next one will be a little more interesting though, promise. :3 First stage of the alchemy exam completed and soon, they'll go to lab 5!

If you have any questions or theories on what will happen, I would be delighted to hear you out. I'm always happy to answer you as best as I can (without giving too many spoilers of course). ^^

Oh! And next chapter, we'll also see Andrew's POV! :) We'll get more of his POV in the future as well, but the main focus will be on Gloria. And I have no idea why I like to do fluff between the two Americans even though romance won't be in focus on this story. Maybe I'm slowly becoming an Andria shipper. XD

But yeah, I'm thinking about putting this story on a momentary hiatus so I can work more with school, since it will be starting this week, and so I can finish my other story, The time assassin, since that one is closer to the end of it. Though, I'm not sure about it yet. :/ Maybe I'll write on this story when I'm bored and end up posting a chapter anyway, you never know.

But yeah, see ya guys! I hope next time I update won't have this long of a time span between it. ^^


	12. State alchemist test, second part

Hey everyone! I'm back with a new chapter! :D

It took a really long time to write this one and I'm really sorry for the huge delay. _" School is making me work a lot and added with my previous writer's block, I couldn't work on this chapter. I know I said that I would put it on slight hiatus but I thought that it shouldn't be more than half a year. So here it is, the new chapter~! :)

Some recap:

_Gloria, Ed and Al have gone to central. Gloria discovered that her father originally came from Amestris. They took in another one from the other side of the gate, a boy named Andrew. Andrew and Gloria became friends because of their similar situations and Gloria took the first part of the alchemist exam._

Now, it's the second part of the exam. I hope you like Andrew's POV, I really wanted to relay his thoughts and go more in depth with his character.

Enjoy~! ^^

(I don't own FMA and I have corrected my chapter now. Now, it seems less weird so sorry for the horrible chapter I gave you at the beginning. XD)

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I have no idea what to do right now… Really, I just entered the military building with no idea where to go. I just got the instructions that I'll have my interview at 12, but they didn't tell me where. I still have about 15 minutes before my interview so I do have time to look for the room. But still, it would be good to get some directions… I also don't like the way the grown-ups are looking at me, they think I'm a little kid! Sure, I'm acting like one but that doesn't mean I am one. I really should drop the act; Edward even said that my act is more of a younger child than a 12-year old. It's fun to be young again but lately it has irritated me that others look down on me… I thought it was fun that they were underestimating me, but now it's just plain annoying.

With a sigh, I slump down slightly as I walk. I've decided now, I'll drop the act during or after this interview depending on how it goes. Then, I'll just go with my own personality and when someone asks, I'll tell them the truth. Yeah, that sounds good enough.

I suddenly bump into someone since I didn't really see where I was going. I manage to regain my balance by taking a few steps back, thankfully. It would be embarrassing if my clumsiness failed me in the middle of military HQ. Once I look up, I meet the eyes of a surprised Hughes. I give him a large smile; maybe he can lead me to the interviewing room!

"Hello! You're one of Edward's friends, Colonel Hughes!

Hughes smiles back at me, putting his hands on his hips before he answers. His uniform is neat as always and I can also see something white sticking out from his pocket. Probably the pictures of his family, he has always been kind like that.

"That's right. What are you doing here, Gloria? Didn't you go to Resembool?"

"Yeah, I did, but the trail to my father ended up here." I lie, shrugging as if the subject isn't all that important. "Hey, do you know where interview room is? I'm supposed to be there for my exam at 12, but I never got any instructions on how to get there."

Hughes's eyes widen in surprise when he hears that I'll enter the exam before his eyes darkens slightly. I'm a little confused by his serious demeanor until I remember his past. Because he was a dog of the military, he was forced to kill people. He probably doesn't want a 'pure child' like me to join the military. Too bad for both of us that I've already been 'tainted'

"Are you sure you want to do that? Being in the military isn't some easy game where you protect everyone. The government isn't as bright as it seems."

I smile sadly at him, deciding to drop my act for the moment since this is a serious matter. Besides, I've only met Hughes once before and I wouldn't want one of my favorite characters to think badly of me because I give him a naïve reply like 'I can handle it'. No, I'm going to give him a serious and confident answer, just what he'll want to hear if he'll lead me towards the interview room.

"Even though I'm young, I have already experienced the darkness, Hughes. I've already been involved and there's no going back. I have great abilities but I don't know what I should use them for. The military will give me something to do. They will also help me get closer to my own goal, that's why I'm trying to get the position as a state alchemist."

Hughes seems a little surprised by my answer but his eyes nether less softens with sorrow after a few seconds of staring at me. I really don't like the look on his face, so I slip into my acting state and give him a cheerful smile. I hold up my hand as if I'm about to wave 'hello' at him with my other hand behind my back.

"So, do you know where the room is?"

With a small nod, Hughes walks away to lead me towards the interview. And way too soon, I'm already standing inside the dark room with the door closed behind me, facing the long table of high military personnel with a single, strange chair in front of them lit up with a spotlight. How the fudge will I sit down on _that_ chair?

"Go on and sit." I flinch at hearing Bradley's voice, nervously looking at him. Does he know who I am yet? Do they know that I'm from the gate? Will they go after me? But Bradley's eyes don't reveal anything to me when I look at them. This makes me even more uncomfortable because that serious look could mean anything. "Alchemy is the science of balance, if you have the gift, it will not refuse you."

With a nod, I step into the spotlight, grabbing onto the back of the chair before I sit down on the chair, wobbling a little but soon finds my balance well enough to sit straight. Yes! Come on balance, keep it up! Don't make me fall now!

"Good work." I almost flinch at his praise and my slight distraction makes my weight shift slightly, enough to almost toss me off the chair, but I quickly straighten up before I can fall down. The higher ups obviously noticed my slip and have by now lost their interest in me. I frown in irritation at that, they don't think I'm good enough.

"Now, why would you want to be an alchemist for our military? It's quite unusual for a young child like you to enter the exam, let alone pass the first test."

I forcefully let the comment on me being young slide with a lot of effort, since it points out that I'm small, and instead look Bradley in the eye with an even stare before I tell him my answer.

"I have a powerful alchemy source, but I don't know what to use it for. I have tried to use my abilities for the good of the people but I always seem to do something wrong. Within the military, I'll have a direction I'll be heading towards instead of wandering around aimlessly. I may be young but I think I still have the qualities it takes to preform my duties."

Yup, the act came off immediately. Meh, I should continue like this, I'll probably use my act from time to time when the situation needs it but I really should act like myself. Also, I got the people in the room interested in me by my high intellectual answer. Especially Bradley… Perhaps I should have stayed with my act after all… Now, the Homunculus will be interested in me… Why didn't I think of that!? Stupid me!

"Really now? What could a small girl like you possibly do to hurt people?"

I twitch at the comment the person to the right of Bradley said, who I don't know the name of, and immediately glare at the bastard. I stand up from my chair and lift up my hand in preparation to snap my fingers but I quickly halt my action before I can go through with it. But I can't help the words I want to say from slipping out.

"What did you just call me…?"

The man is shocked at my action before a disapproving frown appears on his face. He stands up as well, towering over me in age, height and rank. But even so, my body refuses to stand down since I was just insulted about my height. It's a very touchy subject and even though I want to stand down, I can't. The only thing I can do is 'watch' and restrain myself as much as possible so I don't accidentally hurt him.

"We did not give you permission to stand up, girl. If you continue to talk like that, we won't hesitate to cease you into custody for refusing the order of a higher officer."

"Technically, I'm not a part of the military, sir, so I'm not really obligated to follow your orders." What the hell am I talking about!? Shut up! You're trying to get into the military here! Just sit down already!

"You may leave now."

I freeze up when Bradley speak up, my body going cold at his words. They are final and leave no room for argument. I break my staring contest with the bastard to look at Bradley, he meets my gaze with a cold one of his own which causes me to flinch. Those eyes give me a clear message, I _failed_. With that realization, another wave of anger envelops me and I start to glare at Bradley. They have no idea how much of an asset I am! They have no idea what I can do! Why would they just fail me like that!? I haven't done anything! Maybe talking back to a higher ranked officer, but it isn't wrong if you're fighting for your cause!

Just when I'm about to argue with him, Bradley cuts me off and his tone forces to listen to him for some reason. I can't utter a word of my own when he starts talking.

"Letting your emotions control your actions is not something we can allow in the military. All orders are absolute and must be fulfilled if they stand over you in rank. Also, we do not accept insults to a higher ranked officer nor do we accept brash actions such as yours. You may leave."

His words have silenced me completely so the only thing I can do at this point is to glare hard at Bradley while grinding my teeth. With an angry snort/huff, I quickly turn around before I say something I'll regret and stomp towards the exit. I open the door and step outside but before I close it, I glare back towards the officers without really knowing what I'm doing.

"You'll regret not considering me…" I hiss at them before I slam the door shut. I then stomp down the halls towards the exit of this huge building. They'll regret it; I know they will, especially Bradley, that bastard. They think I'll give up? They think I'll give up and not try to steer where everything will go? Oh, then they're severely mistaken. I'll figure something out, if they won't accept me, it's their loss. I didn't do anything wrong, I did everything perfectly. If that bastard just hadn't insulted me, everything would have gone fine.

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**Andrew POV**

_Drewie! Help!_

I wake up with a start, quickly sitting up in my bed and holding out my hand as if to grasp onto something with a scream half-way up my throat. I stare at my outstretched hand and realize that I'm shaking from the dream I just had. With my body still shaking, I hunch my back forward so my hair will cover the single eye I can see from, swallowing down my scream with a lot of difficulty. I want to hide from the world; I want to be weak for just a short while and not have to be strong like I usually am. I want to be vulnerable at the moment, right after I just saw my big sister die in my dream.

I place a hand over my face as I remember my sister's terrified face as she fell down the cliff. The cliff we always used to visit to have a picnic far away from the edge when we were small. We never went close enough to the edge to risk falling down, but in my dream we did. And she was the one who fell. No, she didn't fall… She was dragged down… Dragged down by small, black hands with the sound of multiple children giggling at the bottom of her doom…

I take deep breaths to calm down. One… _it was just a dream_. Two… _Elaine is fine, she isn't dead._ Three… _We never went that close to the cliff and she wouldn't be that stupid. _Four… _Black hands like those won't get her._ Five… _They can't reach her, she's safe._

After I've finally calmed down, I look around myself, still a little disorientated from just waking up. I don't recognize this room, where am I? A… hotel room? Why are there two beds? If I'm in a hotel, shouldn't it be a single room then? I went to California on my own…

Like a bomb exploding inside my brain, the memories of my past experience comes flooding back. The crash, meeting Gloria, knowing about this new world, knowing what I've lost to survive, shopping with my new friend, building a belt for her special alchemy, starting to learn the forging language, I remember it all now. The homesickness tightens around my heart, almost choking me with its sudden appearance. But after two deep breaths and a mental reminder that everything will be alright, the pain lessens enough for it to be bearable. I don't push away the thought of missing home, not really. I just focus on something else, something that will make me see things on the more positive side rather than the negative one.

"_If you only see the negative stuff in every situation, you'll never be happy, Drewie! Live a little! Have fun! If you only have one friend, instead of thinking that you want more, you should be glad for the only friend you got!"_

I smile as I remember Elaine's words from so long ago. Mom said the same thing to me, but I never really grasped its meaning until Elaine explained it to me. It was easier to understand what my sister meant because she used easier words so I could understand the whole concept. That is one of the reasons I got pretty good grades in school, since Elaine already knew the things I was working on because she did the same one year prior, she could explain it to me so I understood. If she had been here… would she be able to explain the situation I'm in now…?

I shake my head at the thought, shoving off the covers so I'll wake up more with the slightly colder air cooling me down. No, Gloria already explained it to me. Elaine wouldn't be able to understand much better than I can, she would be just as confused by all this. Dying in a plane crash, only to suddenly come alive again in another world isn't a normal occurrence. Also… That white space with that creepy figure… I don't want her to experience something like that, it was absolutely terrifying. Not to mention that black hands suddenly press against your eyeball and tugging painfully inside your nose so they can drag you into a large, black gate. That feeling isn't even close to pleasant; yesterday's nightmare was of that place. I woke up with cold sweat then too.

I quickly get up from bed, picking up my clothes that are hanging over the sofa on my way to the bathroom. I'll take a shower; it'll help in washing away the nightmare so to say. I glance up at the clock hanging on the wall, it's 11,45. Gloria must have already gone to her interview while the brothers went back to the library the moment it opened. Yesterday, we all woke up pretty early. Around 8 actually, I'm a little surprised I slept for so long. I usually wake up around 10 during weekends. With a shrug, I walk inside the bathroom to do my morning routine.

I start the shower to let the water grow warm. A flash of Gloria's grey eyes goes through my mind and I start to wonder why she even seeks the title of a state alchemist. From what she explained about state alchemists, it isn't really a position she'll enjoy having judging from the small things I've learned about her. She has a short temper, no pun intended, and always seems to do the things she wants to do. I really can't see her following someone else's pipe. The same goes for Edward, who I know is a state alchemist from what Gloria have told me. But Edward actually act more mature than Gloria ironically enough, she's both the youngest and oldest at the same time between the four of us. I really don't know what to think about all of this yet… It's still as if I'm in a bad dream that I will wake up from someday. But even so, I know that it's my reality.

I step into the shower and I start to relax when the hot water washes away every troubling thought that linger in my mind. Thank the heavens for small mercies… My thoughts are completely blank while I shower, just like it always is. And when I step out from the bathroom, showered and ready for the day, it's only 11.55. With a shrug, I sit down on the couch to rest a few minutes before I walk towards the library Edward and Alphonse are in. As I stare up into the roof, I'm once again reminded how absolutely crazy everything is. Since the moment I woke up with no sense of smell and sight from only one eye, everything has been turned upside down. Why did it have to be my sense of smell that was ripped away? I love the smell of food and flowers… And the food I have eaten here barely tastes anything. I have always been proud of my sense of smell, but now… it's gone… Just from one plane, just one girl made me lose everything. My home, my family, my culture, my smell, my security, it all disappeared in just one single moment all because of her…

I clench my hands, forcing down the anger I can feel bubbling inside me. No, it isn't her fault. She couldn't help being born by someone from this world, which is obviously the reason she even got here in the first place. She couldn't help that she had that alchemy she told me about and she never meant for the plane crash to happen. She is trying to help me, trying to make this all seem like a vacation to another country based on how she has acted with me. She has told me of the dangers in this world, so I'll be prepared to run or defend myself when the situation calls for it. She has taught me small words and she'll teach me more when she can, I know she will. She cares about my wellbeing since we're in the same situation, both of us.

_But somewhere deep inside, I still blame her for everything…_

I hit the couch with my fist, forcefully pushing away that thought. I shouldn't blame her, I know I shouldn't. It isn't her fault, she never meant for this to happen. I could see the guilt in her eyes when I explained that I sat next to her on the plane. She is already blaming herself for putting me here on accident; I don't need to make her guilt worse by blaming her too. Maybe someday I'll forgive her wholeheartedly, I'll do my best. I don't know why I got worried about her when she got so tired after the alchemist test. Is it because I start to care about her or is it because I want her to be healthy just so she can help me? I'm not really sure at the moment. Perhaps it is that I don't want to be alone, that she's the only person I can really talk to.

I stand up, pressing the palm of my left hand to my forehead. No more depressing, negative thoughts. Think deeper about those things later, but not right now. I'll have to join Edward and Alphonse in the library, I'm sure Gloria soon will be done with her interview. I force a smile on my face which in turn lightens my mood a little. After a few seconds of fake smiling and thinking of happy memories, my depressed and angry mood is gone. I'll believe in Gloria, I've always had a fondness over supernatural things and my situation is purely supernatural. The reason I believed her in the first place was because I couldn't come up with a single logical reason as to why Gloria would say crazy stuff like 'being in another world' because her eyes were so serious, so confused and full of truth. And when she proved it by showing her alchemy, I thought that I was going crazy and hallucinating. But I soon realized that it was very real and did my best to accept it and act normal on our way to the hotel. I always have that nagging thought about this being impossible and a dream in the back of my head but the thought about this being a dream was shattered during my first nightmare. I know I'll accept it more and I believe that everything will be alright in the end.

_Happy thoughts, happy thoughts…_

I exit the hotel, saying 'goodbye' in the forging language, which Gloria has taught me a little of, to the receptionist before I exit the building. I then turn left, vaguely remembering the way to the library as I follow my small mental map. The people here are so normal; acting like anyone else would in their home. It's just so… normal. Only, it has this magic called alchemy that shouldn't be possible. Although, Gloria has explained it as this world's science rather than magic. They could be more technically advanced if they didn't focus on advancing alchemy. Maybe that's what Gloria wants to do in the military, advance the technology. It makes sense; she did say that she had a hobby of researching technology and making things of her own. Or maybe she just wants to join because… she can. It could be possible; she never really explained why she wanted to join in the first place. Maybe she'll answer if I just ask her. It's always worth a shot. And if she doesn't want Edward and Alphonse to know, they won't know what we're talking about in the first place since we're talking in a different language. Then it's settled, I'll ask her once she comes back from her review.

When I reach the library, I can see Gloria stomping right past it with her two orange ponytails helping me to spot her amongst the sea of people.. But why did she just walk past the library since it's there that the brothers are? Isn't she supposed to tell the brothers how her interview went? Or is it that she's on her way to the hotel? But why? All of us would be at the library at this point.

"**Gloria?**" I call out to her once she gets within hearing distance. Although, she just ignores me and stomps right by me. I can almost feel an enormous heat radiating from her due to her quite obvious anger. She is making an angry grimace and I can hear her grumble words to herself, some Amestrian and some English from what I could briefly hear. I frown in confusion; Gloria wouldn't do something like that. She wouldn't ignore me like that if nothing was wrong, I can feel it. I know I wouldn't do it in our predicament.

_Or maybe she doesn't want me to be included in her problem._

That's very likely… So I decide to follow her, taking long strides to catch up and walk behind her with a few feet between us. People edge away from her, allowing her free passage down the street. It's because they're intimidated by her, she has this dark… aura around her you could say. It's like if you step within that aura or zone, she won't hesitate to attack you. That's also why I'm keeping my distance, I'm not enough of an idiot or trusting enough that she won't hurt me if I approach her when she's like this. We are merely friends at this point, just above acquaintances; I'm not special enough for her to stop her punch flying at my face when she's angry. I would rather not experience her anger problems first hand.

"**Hey, Gloria, where are you going? Aren't you going to the library to see Edward and Alphonse?**"

She once again ignores me, turning right into an alleyway and also pushing aside a woman who was in her way. I quickly help the woman up and smile at her as a small apology before I jog after the smaller girl. She's definitely angry; she would apologize to the woman if she was in her right mind. What happened for her to get this angry?

"**What's all this about? Why won't you tell me why you're angry?**"

That makes Gloria turn around, her two pony tails on her head whipping her face because she turned around so fast. And her eyes are different from how they were before. They are really dilated with a small, brown circle around the pupil. Where did the brown come from? She has grey eyes.

"**Shut up and just leave me the fuck alone! If you're so eager on stalking someone, go do it to someone else!**"

Without leaving me the moment to speak, much less react, Gloria shoot a stream of water at me with the snap of her finger, shoving me to the ground roughly. Luckily, I don't hit my head when I fall on the pavement, but now my back really hurts. I groan slightly when I roll over, pain shooting up my spine. Thought so, she didn't hesitate to hit me.

When I look up at her again, I see the ginger already walking away. I sigh tiredly as I sit up, wincing when pain once again shoots up my spine. I can't help but wonder what exactly made Gloria like this when I hear the sound of a crying child in the direction Gloria just walked towards. But she said that I would leave her alone, so I will leave her alone.

I slowly stand up in my wet clothes, holding onto my side as I look around to see where I am.

…

I have absolutely no idea where I am… If I start walking in a random direction, I'll just end up getting completely lost and never be able to get back to the hotel before nightfall… Then I would have to live on the streets with no knowledge of the language, culture or how to get money… Looks like I'm forced to follow Gloria even though neither she nor I want to.

With another sigh, I jog out from the alley and look around to see if I can spot Gloria anywhere. And I spot her too easily since I can hear her voice in the direction of the huge commotion on the sidewalks, arguing with an elder woman. I have absolutely no idea what they're saying, it just sounds like gibberish. Although I can understand 'I', which is 'io', so she's probably having an argument over what she did for making a kid cry. It's really strange to listen to their language. It sounds like a combination of Italian, German and Japanese. When Gloria told me about small, simple phrases during our long shopping trip like 'I'm Andrew', 'I'm sorry', 'Hello' and 'Goodbye' I could recognize a few pronunciations from the German language, which I've read in school. I have also been to Italy and I've seen a few anime clips which one of my friends showed me so that's why I could also recognize it as a mix between German, Italian and Japanese. It's a very confusing language, but I'll do my best to learn it. I just hope I won't talk in German if I have to talk to anyone other than Gloria…

I push through the small crowd that have gathered around Gloria, saying an awkward 'I'm sorry' to those I have to push past. When I see the situation Gloria has gotten herself in, I'm even more surprised that she even made this situation in the first place. I thought she said that she didn't want to bring any attention towards herself.

There, in the middle of the circle of people is Gloria pacing back and forth while arguing with the elder woman. The child, who is crying, is standing next to the woman with her small, blue dress covered in ice cream. Both the child and her mother are drenched just like I am. She probably used the last of her water to make them wet so she hopefully won't use alchemy on me as I approach. So how should I take Gloria out from this situation? Because she seems about ready to burst from her emotion, she is probably doing that already with how much she's screaming, so she shouldn't be amongst this many people in her state. Whatever state she's in.

With a tired sigh, I come up with an idea I've used for one of my friends. The thought of him jabs my heart a little but I push the thought aside to think of later. With confident strides, I walk out from the circle of people straight towards the ginger. I have no idea what she said, but everyone has started backing off slightly and the woman is looking very afraid of Gloria. When I reach her, I take the back of her shirt in a tight grip and kick the back of her knees so she falls down.

My action cut her off in the middle of her rant but she soon starts screaming again when I start to walk away with her in tow. One of my friends also have a short temper and tend to get into too many fights for useless things so I 'invented' this technique to effectively take away short people from troublesome situations. Since I'm holding onto the back of her shirt, she can't hit me to release her. And neither can she twist out from my grip because with my long strides, she can't get a firm enough grip on the ground to twist her way out. Thankfully, she doesn't think about using her alchemy at the moment, or else I wouldn't be able to drag her with me. Oh, and now I can actually understand what she's saying.

"**What the hell are you doing you bastard!? I'll teach that stupid bitch a lesson! I didn't do anything to her but she just accused me out of nowhere! Let me go damn it!**"

I think I liked it better when I couldn't hear what she was saying… Why is she so rude all of a sudden? I keep on a blank face as I walk through the crowd, the people making way for me and the girl I'm dragging literally kicking and screaming. It's a little sad that I'm somewhat used to people with anger problems… I wonder if she took medications before or something, this is like a totally 180 turn in her normal personality.

"**I'm making sure that you don't get into trouble, that's what I do. And from what I could see, you knocked into that child so she spilled ice cream over her dress and the mother got angry because you didn't care about her child. You splashing water over them didn't make things any better.**"

"**What the hell!? You're siding with her!? Some damn little brother you are, you're supposed to side with me! That kid was in my way! The bitch should have had an eye where her kid was going!**"

"… **Really? What the hell are you on? We're friends, not siblings. And I still can't side with you because of how much your personality has changed in such a short time. And what's with the brown in your eyes anyways?**"

"**I'm just so damn **_**pissed**_**! They fucking refused to accept me! **_**ME**_**! Just because of that bastard, everything I've planned for are ruined! It's all fucking ruined because of that bastard!**"

Wait… so she didn't succeed the alchemist test? Probably because of her short temper and refusal to follow things she doesn't want to do. But maybe now, even in her angry state, she can tell me why she's seeking the title of a state alchemist. So more interested in our conversation, my face goes from blank to a lightly frowning one.

"**Hey, why do you want to become a state alchemist in the first place? You don't seem like a person who wants to follow orders.**"

"**Damn right I don't!**" Gloria struggles a little more but by now she has realized that I won't let her go. So she settles on hanging limp while probably glaring at any passerby's who look strangely at us. "**If I'm in the military as a state alchemist, I have a really high position! I was supposed to steer the story how I want it to be! I could say that I got rumors about the philosopher stone and lead the brothers on the right track so they could finish everything before the promised day! And I'm fucking tired of asking that pipsqueak for money, I want some of my own!**" I struggle to hold back the comment that she's more of a pipsqueak than he is but that would only make her angrier. "**And I was also supposed to find out more about alchemy, damn it! I was supposed to find a way for you to get back to our side!**"

I freeze up without meaning to when she says that. Gloria manages to twist out from my grip because of this and she kicks my already hurt back. I manage to catch myself in the fall to save my head from colliding with the pavement. I turn around to look up at Gloria, whose eyes are still brown around the pupil as she glares at me.

"**That's for dragging me all over the place you bastard!**"

Before she walks away, I stumble upright and grip onto her shirt again. Not in the tight grip like I did before, but only to get her attention. Surprisingly, she actually stops when I do so. My throat feels a little clogged up but I somehow manage to speak in a shaky voice past the lump.

"**Do you… Do you really mean that…? Can you… take me home…?**"

Ugh… I hate it when I sound so lost and confused as I feel. My friends always call me a puppy when I sound like that. As I once again think about my friends, I allow the thoughts to consume me this time. How are they? Are they good back in Tennessee? Do they even know that I died? How did they react? And what about my family? Mom, dad, Elaine… Are they alright? How will Elaine do now in school when I'm gone? She was always so happy and optimistic. Will she go into a shell now that I'm not there? Now that her innocence has shattered with my death, how will she cope with it? And my innocence? How will I cope when I eventually see death in this world like Gloria said is really possible I could experience? Have Gloria seen death yet? I don't know, I've never asked. How will I react to her answer if she says yes then? Will I be horrified? Will I be sad for her? Will I be sad for myself because I'll have it much harder in this new world because of my innocence? It feels like I don't know anything right now.

"**Yes.**"

I'm brought out from my thoughts by Gloria's answer and I stare down at her with wide eyes. The lump in my throat grows larger and I can barely hold back the tears. Her voice is filled with so much confidence that I can't do anything but trust her words right now.

Even though she's glaring at me, she isn't glaring at specifically me but is focusing on something else. She has turned around without me noticing and she is gripping onto my hand tightly, almost as if my hand is the thing she's angry on.

"**It's my fault that you got here in the first place. That stupid bastard wanted me and you got dragged into it. If I don't send you back somehow, I would never forgive myself. I'd rather-**"She cut herself off for no reason, simply staring with an empty gaze up at me. I can feel the black aura around her disappear and soon after, she falls forward completely limp. I do my best to catch her and I end up crouching on the ground to steady her further. What just happened?

I turn her over in my arms, looking her over to see if I can spot any wounds, but I see none. I get even more worried now, just what made her pass out like that? And in the middle of a sentence too. She has never told me about anything like this. I look around me to see if I can spot anyone I know but of course, I don't see anyone. With a small sigh at my predicament, I hoist Gloria up on my back and stand up. The Elric brothers must know what to do with her and what happened to her. I just need to find the library… There are just so many houses here.

I trudge along the street with Gloria on my back, wondering if she really can send me back. If she can, I'll forgive her for forcing me into this world. And I think she's actually able to do it. She knows almost everything there is to know about this world and she has the ability to do alchemy. Added with her memory and intellect she might be able to solve the code as to why we came here. If she can do that, she can also send us back. Both Gloria and I. We can get back home, meet our families again but still be friends since we live in the same state. We could meet sometime and simply talk about the experiences we'll have here which the others in our family won't understand.

I start to smile at the thought of seeing my family again. I miss them so much. Gloria is a good person to talk to, to distract me from the thoughts of home, but now it's actually possible for me to get home! Now, I can think about my home and not feel sorrow for not being able to see them ever again, but only sorrow for missing them. But I will see them again; this new world is like traveling to a new country without any planning beforehand. A very dangerous country that is.

I knew it, everything _will_ be alright.

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**Gloria POV**

I wake up slowly, the blackness around me slowly fading into yellow-ish grey. I don't remember what I dreamed about, but it felt like it was important. But if it was that important, I would have remembered it still.

I slowly open my eyes, allowing my eyes to get used to the bright light after having been exposed to darkness. The first thing I see is a wooden roof, which roof, I'm not sure, but it's a roof at least. When I open my eyes further, I'm glad when the light doesn't blind my eyes completely but only make it a little fuzzy around the edges. I'm lying on something soft and when I turn my head to look around, I recognize the room as the hotel room.

_Wait… How did I get here…? Wasn't I on my way towards Ed and Al…?_

I yawn loudly, stretching a little before I roll over on my side to get up. When I slide my legs down the side of the bed, I sit up with the movement and look over towards the sofa to see if anyone's here with me. I'm all alone…

I stand up, rubbing my forehead a little to wake up before I look up at the watch hanging on the wall to see what time it is. It's half past five in the afternoon?! Why did I sleep for this long? And how did I end up in the hotel in the first place? I was supposed to tell Ed and Al how the exam went, not go home to take a nap.

I look down at my clothes, seeing that I still have the blue shorts and white T-shirt I left the hotel in but I'm without my shoes and my new belt. I can easily find my bottles on top of the couch and I put it on. My shoes are carelessly placed by the door and with a slight grumble, I crouch down to put them on. I snap my finger when I notice that my blisters have blossomed again, aiming to cool them down with some water, but nothing happens. I snap my fingers again and look down at my four bottles. With a deadpan stare, I realize why nothing happens. All of my bottles are empty… How did that happen? I didn't do anything with my alchemy.

With a tired sigh, I walk over to the bathroom, turn on the water and clap my hands to direct the water into my bottles. After all of them are full, I turn off the tap and tighten the belt so the weight of the bottles won't cause it to slip off. I then walk back to the exit, put my water soaked feet into my shoes and then exit when I've made sure that I have my key with me. I'm then on my way towards the library where Ed, Al and Andrew are. If they aren't at the library, I have no idea where else they could be. I don't think Andrew would wander off by himself and since he wasn't with me, he's with the brothers.

When I eventually reach the library, I see only Denny guarding the door to the room the brothers and Andrew are in. I blink slightly in confusion, wondering where Maria is, and approach him.

"Hey, Denny. Where's Maria?"

Denny is snapped out from his little 'trance' when he hears my voice and looks over towards me with wide eyes. I raise my eyebrows at his shock, placing my hands on my almost non-existent hips when I stop a few feet away from him.

"What? Has something happened?"

"N-no, not at all!" Denny says quickly, waving a hand in front of him in dismissal. Although afterwards, he gives me this weird stare which makes me feel really uncomfortable. I frown at the soldier.

"Alright, spit it out. What's wrong?"

"What… happened to you? You seem different somehow…" Denny says slowly and carefully, as if he doesn't want to offend me for some reason. I blink slightly in surprise at his words before I finally realize it. I've dropped my act, this is the first time Denny has seen me without it. So I give him a small smirk, leaning back a little while crossing my arms over my chest.

"I see. Well, if you're as smart and prodigies as I am, you wouldn't want to show your real personality either. I mean, really? Does my attitude fit my age at all?" I ask him while gesturing at all of me.

Denny does a quick scan over me, apparently coming to the same conclusion as I have when his eyes light up in recognition. So he gives me an uneasy smile and a slight nod.

"I-I see. I can understand that." Denny suddenly gets serious, leaning a little closer to get a better look at me. "So this is the real you? You certainly seem more mature than this morning…"

I laugh a little, reaching out and patting his head, ruffling his hair while I'm at it. "Why, thank you. It makes me happy to hear that. It's a little boring when so many people underestimate you because you act a certain way. It was convenient in the beginning, but now it's simply tiring. And I couldn't really act like a naïve kid during the exam, could I?"

"You're right…" Denny says with another nod. He looks a lot less confused now with a real smile on his face when he's leaning back. "Well, Maria is inside with Andrew. She's trying to teach him our language as best as she can. You might want to talk to him as to why he came late; we couldn't really understand his… charades."

With another laugh, I nod and step inside the library room. The first people I see are Ed and Al, who are still working on Marco's notes. If I'm counting right, they should be done with it in about three days. But I can't be sure. The two other persons I see as I look around are Andrew and Maria, Maria holding up a picture book of different things and teaching Andrew the word. I can hear both of them repeat the word 'city' many times until his pronunciation is good enough to be counted as the word. Before Andrew is able to see the next picture, I've already sneaked up behind him and cover his eyes. Maria smiled when I came in but when she saw my gestures of being quiet, she didn't look directly at me at least. And now, she has an amused smile on her face as I playfully cover his eyes.

"**Let's see. The only person I know in this world who would do something like that is… Alphonse.**"

I laugh at his guess, removing my hands because I know that he knows it's me. I step up beside him and ruffle his fluffy red hair in greeting.

"**Alphonse? Really? Then you would feel the metal, dummy.**"

"**Oh, I would have never guessed it was you.**" He says dramatically with a grin, placing a hand on his chin in a girly way. "**I thought it would be a handsome man with those calloused hands of yours.**"

"**There's nothing wrong in having calloused hands.**" I tell him with a small grin of my own, crossing my arms over my chest. "**It just shows that you're a hard worker. But you're a hard worker as well, I see. Learning more of the new language and all.**"

Andrew nods, glancing at Maria with a bright grin on his face before he looks back at me.

"**Yeah, I thought that I should learn as much as I can so I'll maybe be able to talk to someone. I can't talk with you all the time, I would go crazy.**"

"**You wouldn't go crazy by talking with me; you would simply start to worship the chocolate god eventually and probably have a bit of sarcastic humor in you.**"

"**Exactly, crazy.**"

I frown at his comeback and decide to take another approach. So I turn towards Maria with a bright grin on my face.

"Hey there, Maria. Thanks for helping me in teaching Andrew the language here."

"**Hey.**"

I ignore him completely as I walk over to the confused woman, pulling her up from the chair she's sitting on and start to drag her towards the door.

"Are you hungry? I'm starving. Let's go out and eat."

"But… I can't leave my post…"

"It's fine, it's fine." I say, waving away her worries. "We'll just buy some food for the others as well."

"**Hey, are you ignoring me?**"

Maria nervously glances back at Andrew, who I know is following us since his voice sounded so close, before she meets my over-the-top-cheerful gaze.

"Ehm… Gloria. I think Andrew is trying to get your attention…"

"Oh, I didn't hear anything. Hey, Denny! We're going out to get some food, what do you want?"

I start talking to the other officer as I've successfully dragged Maria out the doors of the room. Denny is a little surprised by my quick exit but nether less starts to smile at the aspect of food.

"Oh! I would like some hamburger if you can get some."

"**Hey, Gloria!**"

"Alright. We'll get some cheap food for Edward and Alphonse, they always eat a lot." I tell Maria before starting to drag her off again. It's really fun to mess with Andrew this way; I didn't know he could be upset with me not talking to him. But judging by his exasperated tone, he knows that I'm ignoring him on purpose.

I'm suddenly stopped when someone grips onto my shirt tightly, kick the back of my knees so I lose my balance, and my grip on Maria's arm, and then start to drag me off. I try to wiggle out the grip, but that doesn't work. Neither does trying to hit their arm because they're holding me in such a way that my punches aren't strong enough to do any real damage. And because we're going so fast, I can't get a good grip on the floor to twist my whole body away from their grip.

"H-hey! What's the big idea?!"

Maria once again has an amused smile as she sees me being dragged away, same thing with Denny. Maria waves cheerfully at me and tells me that she'll buy food on her own before she walks away. After a few more seconds of being dragged, I'm placed in the same chair Maria sat in inside the library and I look up at the culprit with a frown. Of course it's Andrew. A little brother shouldn't treat their sister this way; it should be the other way around! And he won't be my elder brother, no way!

"**Do you have anything you want to say to me?**"

I frown at him for a while. Should I start talking and make him satisfied or should I continue to ignore him? Well, that choice is easy, continue to ignore him.

"Hey, Edward." I call out towards the blond. He surprisingly looks up from his work to meet my gaze and I give him a bright grin. "How is it going with the notes?"

I hear Andrew sigh in front of me and he does some kind of gesture that draws Ed's attention because his gaze flickers quickly to Andrew and then back to me. With a small frown, he gestures to all of the papers and books sprawled out around the table as well as the many papers on the table with a blank stare.

"We're getting closer to cracking it, but we still have a long way to go. And we've been at it for 7 days already."

Huh, so I was right, it's three days left before they crack the code. I stand up with a grin, snapping my fingers to make my water push Andrew away so he won't force me into the chair again until I talk to him, and walk over towards the table.

"Is there something I can help with?"

Edward raises his eyebrows in slight surprise before he gives me a hard stare. I stop in front of the table, frowning in confusion why Ed looks so stern. Have I done something wrong?

"Aren't you supposed to prepare for the performance part? Or did you fail the interview?"

I flinch at the mention of the alchemist exam, looking off to the side in slight shame. I let my temper get the best of me and I got kicked out… And I was supposed to gain allies, lead the brothers on their right way and also try to find a way to get Andrew home when I became state alchemist. Now, that won't happen… All because of my bad temper…

"Yeah… I faiIIIIIILED!" I scream out in shock when something pointy is being dragged up my spine, effectively tickling me and making my voice go high pitched. I blush in embarrassment at being so caught off guard and turn around to glare at the laughing boy behind me, doing my best to ignore the sniggers Edward is trying to hold in.

"**Andrew! That's not funny!**"

"**Hahaha! Y-yes! I-I got you to talk! Man, that sound was just-! Hahahahaha!**"

I lightly kick him in the leg with a slight pout, walking over to Edward who is still trying to hold in his own laugh. I hug the blonde around the neck, making said alchemist stiffen and stop laughing. I grin at that, drawing back from the hug and patting his head. I completely ignore the shocked stare he's giving me in favor of praising him for holding in his laugh.

"I like you a lot better, Edward. At least you're not laughing at me."

I drag over a chair to the table, sitting down and looking expectantly at Edward with my grin growing a little wider.

"So, what can I help out with?"

"**Hahahahahaha!**"

"**Shut up already!**"

Andrew then gets wet around the ears. And face… And hair… And shoulders… What? It would have been worse if he called me short.

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Aaand, we got to know a little more about Andrew in this chapter. Yay! And we got more sibling fluff with the two of them. Yay! And we got some overall funny fluff with everyone. Yay! XD

I made this chapter about 1000 words longer than I usually do to make up for not updating in such a long time… Again, I'm really sorry for that… :(

But yeah, about the thing where she didn't pass the second test; I didn't realize until about a few months ago that making her a state alchemist wouldn't change the story any more than not making her a state alchemist. I'll fudge up the storyline in the same way anyways. This and that will happen which makes that happens which has a huuuge effect on Gloria and stuff. So I decided that, no, she won't be a state alchemist. Her mentality is too unstable for her to be accepted too, if she would have become a state alchemist, it would have been under the condition that no one called her short, little or a kid. And that was pretty much inevitable… So sorry to you who wanted her to be a state alchemist.

And I have a question to you guys, I really can't decide on this one… Andria is slowly transforming into having a… _thing_ in my head. But they shouldn't have a _thing_, they should just be sibling fluff. Cause Gloria sees him as a sibling already, Andrew doesn't trust her completely but when he does he'll like her as a sibling too and then they can call themselves a family. But the thing is… Just a few, small, minimal changes they can get a _thing_… But I don't know if I want it in my story or not! So this is a very important question to you guys.

**Should Andria be sibling fluff or should Andria be a pairing? Please answer on my poll, it will still take about 4 chapters before it has to be decided.  
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Oh, and if any of you are unsure if Andrew will be good or bad for the story, then trust me on this one: If Andrew wasn't there, the story would only be a little fudged up. But now with Andrew there, the story will almost be smashed to smithereens. Only a small string will be left of the banderol. It will be great, terrific and so mind fudging for you guys with what I've planned. :3

I hope to see you soon everyone. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. ^^ Reviews give me the inspiration to write on this story! :D (Read all reviews from top to bottom before I started this chapter… You're all so wonderful. :') I also got the strength to re-read all my previous chapters and correct them. You guys are the reason I write this fanfic and I'm really grateful for your support. ^^)

Please review. :D


	13. Truth of a stone

Wooohoo! Another update! I am so glad that I got so much inspiration for this story; it has been ages since I last wrote on it and was really into it, making the characters write themselves! And it took me two months, a record for this year. I hope I can keep this up; it would be great to get inspiration for my real stories again.

There is a lot of schoolwork too, concerts and looking for a job at the moment… I'll graduate soon so there's a lot to do… I'll see when I get to write.

But anyway. Enjoy the new chapter~! ^^

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"**Alright, say after me:** Where is... the train station."

"Dove… bis… bahnhof?"

"**No, no, no, no. That's German. Wrong again.**"

I snap my fingers and pour some water over his head, making his black hair plastering itself to his skull. I managed to convince Andrew to take off the dye from his hair, since it would look weird with black roots and short red stripes when you can't colour the hair in the same way on this side. Ed was the one who removed the colour, of course, since I'm not confident enough in my own skill. It took some minutes of perusing but after that, he was sitting on a chair with Ed prepared to take off his dye. Now his hair is even fluffier to touch!

But at the moment, it's soaked wet because of his many wrong pronunciations. I haven't noticed how similar the amestrian language is to German since it comes naturally for me. But I can understand that it's a little hard for Andrew to say the right words since he read German in school. I put my hands on my hips as I stare down at Andrew, who is sitting in a chair and glaring back at me after he has gotten his wet hair out from his face. A drawing of Ed and Al is hanging on the wall behind him to make me change language and hear if he's making a mistake. A pretty realistic drawing by yours truly, there are a few mistakes but at least it's realistic enough to make me change language.

"**I know, I know. You don't like it. But you're learning faster this way! Be glad that I'm not throwing knives at you like Izumi did to Edward and Alphones. Now, again: **Where is the train station?"

"Dove bis… bahneki."

"**Good, now you've got the basics for direction. So ask me where the hotel is.**"

"Dove bis… Hotergo?"

"**Correct. Ask me where the town square is.**"

"Dove bis Hirazza!"

"**Good, you knew that one. So where is the train station?**"

"Dove bis Bhanhof."

"**Learn already! That's wrong!**"

Aaand he gets water over him again.

"**You can't go around saying that! It's… it doesn't really mean anything that makes sense but if it would mean something, it would be kind of like… Fishing up a road! Do you want to ask where fishing up a road is?! They'll think you're crazy! Now say it again and say it right!**"

"**Alright! Alright! **Bhaneki!** Happy now!?**"

"**Very. Now, let's go and eat something, I'm starving.**"

"**Hey! I can't go out when I'm this wet!**"

"**You big baby. Do you need me to change your clothes for you and dry your hair with a towel since you can't do it yourself?**"

"**Nope, I can do it. Just stay away from the bathroom.**"

"**Like I would want to see anything.**"

I smile as Andrew grumpily takes a new shirt and pants to go into the bathroom to change. I giggle slightly as I remember the times when I and Raven fought like that. It's a kind of friendly sibling banter so to say. And I know that Andrew also appreciates it even though he puts on this moody front since he is 'punished' so to say, but I can always see that little twinkle in his eye. He haven't had that twinkle before, it was only after my failed alchemy exam that the twinkle first started to appear. I don't really know what happened; I've always forgotten to ask about it. And now, it seems almost too late to ask about why I was in the hotel room since it was three days ago. Today, Ed and Al will crack the code… I wonder how they'll react to it, if it will be any different from the show. I've given those small hints and stuff so I'm not sure if they'll react worse or better towards the truth.

I tighten my two ponytails, brushing away my long bangs to keep them out from my eyes. I really should cut my hair; my bangs are getting too long. How long have I been here in the first place? I'm not really sure, a few weeks I think. I'm glad that Andrew is starting to enjoy being in this world. I just hope I could be as ignorant as him… but since I know about the dangers here, I can't enjoy this as much as I would like. If it had been a dream, I would be completely ok with it. But since this is reality, I'm a little scared of what's to come…

I sigh quietly, putting on my water belt, as I've come to call it, while I wait for Andrew to get done. He is actually a lot faster than I thought he would be, because he exits the bathroom just when I'm about to put on my shoes. He has a plain, white shirt with grey cotton pants. Just plain clothing in a plain society. Well, as plain as this society can be at least. There is a special fashion for the nobles but most people don't follow any specific dress code, with me and Andrew falling into that category. I'm also glad that I convinced him to un-bleach his hair. He doesn't remind me of my crush anymore, so now I can think of him purely as a brother. It's very comfortable for me, but he's still in denial of our sibling-ship. He will come to realize one day that we'll be like a small family. We need to stick with one another since we are the only ones we have from our world.

I hate to say this, but Andrew has kind of become an anchor for me much like my kitty tank top. I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to him… And yes, I still have my tank top. I've left all my other clothing behind in a trash can since they won't fit me in a few years anyway, and I've also bought new shoes since my boots gave me blisters. The new shoes are also black boots but not as tall or as big as the ones from my world. I have plucked off two studs from my previous shoes and glued them on my new ones to still get this slight feeling of home. I keep telling myself that I'm not missing home, but I'm in obvious denial. I'm in so much denial that even I can see it. But I always push the thought away into my favourite little box in the back of my mind. The thoughts of home can stay there until the end of time, it would be best that way.

I smile up at Andrew as he too puts on his shoes, feeling a little jealous that he can use the trainers he came here in, and ask him what we should eat today.

"**Hmm… Well, I've wanted to test those omelets for a while, those with stuffing? They look delicious.**"

I manage to hold off the comment on how good they smell, since Andrew can't smell anything, and instead smile at him.

"**Sure, we can eat that. It's on the way towards the library, so afterwards we could check in on the brothers.**"

"**Oh, that's right.**" Andrew says, lifting up a finger in the air with a grin on his face since he just realized something. He's just like a little kid… "**You said something about them finishing today, right? I wonder what they found out.**"

I stand up, hiding my sad smile behind a cheerful one as I open the door to exit. I've told him about some few events, but I haven't told him about all the death and destruction that will happen. I only told him about them going to lab 5, not mentioning how dangerous it is, how they will go to Rush valley and how they meet their teacher. I didn't mention anything about Greed being in Dublinth but I have told him about the homunculi so that he can avoid them if he happens to see one of them when I'm not around. It may come to a certain point where I might have to leave Andrew alone since it'll be too dangerous so I want him to know about his enemies.

"**Yeah, they'll find out about the main ingredients in creating the philosopher stone. They'll no doubt be very angry with me…**"

"**Why do you say that?**" Andrew asks after he closed the door to walk beside me towards the exit. My smile loses some of its cheerfulness as I stare up at him. I open my mouth to answer him truthfully but stop myself in the last second. If I tell him the real ingredient, he'll probably come to fear this world even more and think that he someday could be a part of the philosopher stone. That spark of his could disappear if I tell him. So I look forward again, my smile still in place so I won't make him uneasy with a sudden change of mood.

"**Because I knew about the main ingredient from the start. They know that I know about it but they accepted that I won't tell them. Now that they'll find out for themselves, they won't be as accepting of my decision…**"

I then quickly turn around the conversation so that Andrew won't ask me any questions. He's smart, because I saw in his eyes that he knows that I'm hiding something. Nether less, he allows the subject to change and soon, we're talking about our favourite movies on our way towards the restaurant which has those omelets we carve. We also steer into the subject of anime, since I said that one of my favourite movies is Howl's moving castle, and then I describe other anime series for him. He seems really interested in anime now thanks to me, so he actually said that he'll want to watch them when we get back home. I get a little sad and uncertain because of his sudden declaration, since I'm not sure if I'll be able to send us home, but I get over it quickly so Andrew wouldn't notice.

After we've eaten our dinner, we make our way towards the library. The day flew by fast, walking around town with Andrew and teaching him the language. I'm almost afraid to face the brothers after they find out the truth behind the stone. When I spot the library not far from us, I slow down and start to ask myself if it's really a good idea to meet the brothers so soon. But a hand placed on my head brings me back to reality and I look up to see Andrew's smiling face.

"**Come on, it won't be that bad. You're friends, aren't you? They'll forgive you no matter how bad it is.**"

I smile at his consideration, the smile soon turning into a grin as I lightly nudge his side with my elbow.

"**So the little brother is comforting the big sis? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?**"

"**You and your weird thoughts…**" Andrew grumbles slightly, pushing down my head while we continue on walking. "**I've already told you! We're not siblings!**"

I laugh a little, dancing away from his hand so I'll be able to stand straight again. Once I do, I look up at Andrew with a huge grin, wagging my finger as if he's a 'bad boy'.

"**Now, now, denial isn't good for you Drewie. You know you want me as your big sis.**"

Andrew tense up when I call him his new nickname and stare at me with a horrified look on his face. I too stop when he does and with a worried frown on my face I walk a little closer to him.

"**Andrew? Hey, what's wrong?**"

Now, it's my turn to bring him back to reality because when his eye isn't all foggy, he flinches when he sees my face. I frown harder, my hand hovering in front of me, unsure if I should touch him or not. Seeing this, Andrew slaps away my hand and look away to the side. He takes in a deep breath before he steps around me to continue walking towards the library. I quickly follow him, looking up at his blank face in worry.

"**Hey, if it was something I said, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you that angry.**"

"**I-it's fine, just-.**" He cuts himself off, his eye staring off into the distance for a few seconds before he sighs tiredly. Finally he meets my gaze, but I really don't like that sad look in his eye. "**Just don't… don't call me that again, ok?**"

I blink slightly in surprise, soon realizing that he means the nickname I came up with. Maybe someone important to him called him that and when I do, it brings up bad memories. I recognize that in myself, such as 'bookworm', so I nod with a smile.

"**Alright, I got it.**"

Andrew relaxes slightly when I promise this and he suddenly stops again. I'm just about to ask him why he stopped when I see that we're standing right in front of the library's doors. My worries immediately come back to me and I don't make a move to open the door. When Andrew sees this, he sighs tiredly before he takes a strong hold of the back of my shirt and proceeds to drag me towards the door. Knowing that there is no other way for me to get there, I relax in his grip and allow myself to be dragged. I let my thoughts delve deep into my insecurity at the moment.

How will they react towards me? They'll obviously be angry, how couldn't they? Will Ed hit me? He could, considering his temper. Or will he only scream at me? I don't want Ed to scream at me… And what about Al? He's the calmer out of the two but even he could get angry enough to scream at me. Maybe they'll both scream at me. What will they be most angry about? That I've basically made them waste time or that I didn't tell them the main ingredient? Or it could be a combination of both. Maybe they won't let me go with them on their quest anymore! Oh no, then Andrew wouldn't have a good protection against the homunculi! I could manage since I could always come up with a new way to alter the story, but Andrew wouldn't be able to handle himself. And he wouldn't be able to stay with me either since I would be too close to being captured by the homunculi for me to be comfortable with him being near me. Maybe he could stay with Izumi… Or Winry! He could stay with Winry, she would be happy enough to accept him since Andrew's my friend.

"What has happened to her?"

I'm brought out from my inner musings by Maria's voice. When I come back to reality, I notice that Denny and Maria are right in front of me, worried for some reason. I put on a bright smile for them, holding up a hand in greeting.

"Yo, Maria, Denny!" That's also when I notice that I'm suspended into the air and that something is painfully digging into my armpits. After that, I notice that Andrew is still holding onto my shirt and I get angry at the situation I'm in. He's holding me as if I'm a wet rag!

"**Hey! What's the big deal! I haven't done anything to deserve this kind of treatment!**" I scream angrily, trying to kick the younger boy behind me. He releases me from his grip, making me fall painfully on my tail bone. I roll over in pain, chanting 'ow, ow, ow' while I hold onto my hurt back.

"**You were so out of it, I was wondering when you'd come back. I was able to hold you like a kitty for 6 seconds. A record for me actually, you're a lot lighter than my friend.**"

"**So you do this to other people too? You bastard.**" I hiss back, still holding my tail bone in pain. Andrew nudges my back, as if telling me to suck it up, before he turns towards Maria and Denny.

"They done?" He asks in amestrian, a little shaky but understandable nether less. I look up at the two soldiers from my position on the floor, a little uneasy of what they will answer. Denny goes back to relaxing in his chair.

"Yeah, soon. I think." Denny says slowly, so Andrew will understand him somewhat. "It is soon closing time so I think they will work again tomorrow."

"No, they will finish." I say, equally slow for Andrew's sake. I sit up with a grimace, my tail bone still aching, and address all three of them. "They will finish today, I know it."

As if on cue, the bell for closing time chimes not far from here and not too soon after do I hear Edward scream out in anger.

"Bullshit!"

I tense up when I hear his angry scream, staring at the door in worry. They're done, now they know the truth… I-I don't want to confront them anymore. I don't want them to be angry with me. I can feel a huge flood of guilt come over me but I push it away to my favourite little box. Maria and Denny cautiously open the door to peek inside the dark room while I stumble up on my feet. I'm standing behind the two soldiers, unsure if I should run or not. Andrew puts his hand on my shoulder, effectively keeping me in place, and when I look up at him, he isn't meeting my eyes. He just stares at the door. I can't really figure out what he's feeling and I'm sure that I'm imagining some sort of malice like my cat. He isn't that kind of person to want someone else to be in trouble… right?

I ignore Maria and Denny's question if it's a sibling fight, simply staring at the two brothers once the soldiers have opened the door enough to step inside. They are absolutely horrified and miserable about what they've found out… I knew they would be but… To see them like this in person after knowing them for a few weeks… It just makes my guilt even worse…

I stare at the brothers as they reveal that they have solved Marco's notes. But instead of revealing what the main ingredient is, like they did in the story, Edward looks up at the soldiers. But his gaze quickly moves towards the door, where I'm nervously standing with Andrew holding my shoulder. I can immediately feel the tension increase when he meets my gaze and the heat in his gaze is so intense that I flinch backwards. But Andrew's hand on my shoulder keeps me from running like the coward I want to be. I really don't want them to reject me… I really don't want them to hate me… I-I need them to survive in this world.

The tension grows even heavier when Al, Maria and Denny look at me too. Denny and Maria are confused, Al is disappointed somehow and is on the edge of anger. But Edward is already past that line, he looks ready to tear me apart to see if my insides will hold all the secrets they want to know. I look down at the ground, too nervous to meet his gaze any longer. But that also caused Edward to come out from his staring trance and I can hear him slowly rise from his crouching position.

"You…"

That simple word is filled with so much hate, disappointment and coldness that I flinch. I can feel tears gather in my eyes as the guilt and sadness burst from my little box and I do my best to shove them back. I succeed somewhat, only managing to make my tears stay in my eyes. Andrew lets go of my shoulder when Edward's heavy stomps approach us, probably to move away from the line of fire so to say. The enraged teen grabs onto my shirt harshly, almost choking me in the process when he lifts me up ever so slightly. He wants me to look his in the eye, but instead, I clench my eyes shut and grab onto his hands so he won't lash out in his anger and most likely kill me. He ignores the protest of the adults and his little brother and proceeds to shake me slightly. I still keep my eyes shut.

"You knew about this, didn't you!? You knew about the research but you never told us! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US, DAMN IT!?"

I keep my eyes shut, too ashamed to look at him. I don't say anything either, not knowing how to explain myself really. I have never explained to them that I know about the future, only that I know more things than I should. I can't exactly tell them that I'm some sort of guru who has future visions; none of them would buy it. And if I told them about the manga in my world, they would hate me even more because I know practically everything about them. Every small secret they wouldn't want anyone else other than themselves to know. They would toss me away without any second thought, even Al would no matter how kind he is.

"ANSWER ME!" Ed screams again, shaking me some more. I'm getting trouble breathing and the others must have noticed it because I can feel a few pair of hands try to separate me from Edward.

"Calm down Edward! What are you even talking about!?" Denny calls out desperately to the teen. Soon after he's said that, they manage to separate Ed from me and I my knees bend under me since I can't hold up my own weight because of my loss for air. Thankfully, I can feel someone catch me so I won't face-plant into the floor and I'm hanging limply in their grip. I simply hang there, coughing and trying to regain my breath while pushing down the huge feeling of guilt.

"She knew about it! She knew all along! SHE KNEW THE MAIN INGREDIENT IS LIVE HUMANS!"

The silence was oppressing after that, pushing down heavily on my whole being. I feel my tears start to overflow in shame and they start to roll down my cheeks after Maria breathed out a quiet 'what?' in disbelief. I don't know who it is who is holding me up, but I simply hang there, crying quietly while I listen to Edwards angry rant.

"'The devil's research', 'something you mustn't desire'! You knew about it all along! How couldn't you tell us!? If you had told us sooner, we would have spent all these days thinking of another way than searching for the stone! We don't want thousands of people on our consciousness to create something like this! Or are you too heartless to tell us that hundreds of people would have to be sacrificed!? Do you really care so little about human life!? HUH!?"

I start to sob quietly at his argument, not agreeing but not disagreeing either. I don't meet his gaze either, just staring down at the floor. I wanted to tell them, but the story needs to take its course. Or else, I won't be prepared for anything that will happen in the future. Important people to the story could die if I tell them something before they discover it. I don't make a move to speak nor stop him when I hear Edward run out of the room, most likely to blow off steam.

He hates me… He doesn't trust me anymore… How can I stay with them if they won't trust me? How can I stay with them when they'll only look at me with hate in their eyes? How can I manage to survive in this world without Edward and Alphonse helping me? How will Andrew survive? I have to take him home somehow. I have to make sure that at least he goes back. With a body of course. But I have no idea what or how I'll do it. The philosophers' stone could probably do it… I-I don't care that much about human life. At least if it isn't anyone who's close to me or someone I know. If they're strangers, I would be able to use them to create a stone without too much guilt weighing me down. I'm not heartless… I just have a different view of the world. My old view shattered long ago. So I'm not heartless… I'm not a monster… I just think differently…

"I'm sorry…" I manage to choke out a few seconds after Ed ran out. The one holding me slowly lowers me to the ground so I'm sitting on my knees. I let my arms hang limply at my sides, the one who held me still being close.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" I whisper as I continue to cry, my emotions almost bursting out from my box completely but I have enough control to not let it burst this time. I feel betrayed, guilty, sad and lonely that Edward left before I could explain myself. Before I could say anything against what he said. But actions speak louder than words… I clearly showed him what in his eyes was seen as acceptance and confirmation.

I can hear footsteps move towards the door and I start to hug myself as I cry. Now, everyone will leave me because they see me as a freak, a person who's heartless and didn't care about a few hundred human lives. They all hate me. All of them. Now, I'll be alone again, I'll be all alone with no one to help me.

"Gloria."

I flinch when I hear Al call out to me, slowly looking up to meet his glowing eyes as he's crouching in front of me. His glowing orbs narrow slightly when he sees my tear streaked face but he doesn't make a move to comfort me. Instead he just gives me a plain look which shows that he will listen.

"Gloria, why didn't you tell us if you knew?"

A new wave of guilt runs through me and the tears roll down my cheeks even faster. I hunch my shoulders and close my eyes to let a few silent sobs out because of the feeling. I clench my shirt right over my heart and I shrink in on myself so that it will help me push away my emotions. But it isn't as easy this time. So as a way to distract me, I ask Alphonse if we're alone, to which he answers that it's only us and Andrew here. Once I get that confirmed, I look at Al's glowing eyes.

"I wanted to t-tell you… But I couldn't. I don't… I don't want to be an oracle you can always d-depend on! You needed to learn about the truth by yourselves… You needed to spend these 15 days researching… You had to… If you didn't spend these days researching, you could die. You could die a gruesome death and not even starting to know what you're up against. Everything has to take its course… One step at a time… It has to take its course… Or the whole world could be destroyed… It could be so much worse than what I've seen… This is the path with a good ending… I-I don't want to screw it up."

I don't choose my words as carefully as I would have liked, but at least it can get my point across. I can see Alphonse's glowing orbs widen slightly as he draws his own conclusion to my words. He carefully places a hand on my shoulder, but I have no idea what he's feeling at the moment. Could be confusion, or anger, or awe. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference right now because Al is trying to hide his emotion, which he is really good at doing.

"Gloria, you…? You know what will happen…? You actually knew we were going back to central that day? You knew that Sheska would be able to help us? You knew that the alchemy exam would be finished before we were done solving the notes? You-you actually didn't guess all that?"

I nod at his questions, all of them, and remember our carefree and serious conversations on the train ride, Winry's house and in the hotel room. All those times when I could have told them something about all the hardships they will face throughout the story. Just thinking about those hardships make my tears fall down my cheeks again after having previously stopped them after my explanation.

"You can see the… future…?"

I nod again, looking down at the floor in shame. He surely won't believe me… How could he believe something like that…? I know I wouldn't believe it for a second if I was in his shoes.

"So all this time you…? I see… Now I understand. I have to tell brother!"

Before I can reach out to him, to tell him to stop, to not go before I'm done explaining. But before I can even utter a word, he's gone through the door and only Andrew is with me. Does Al hate me too? He must be since he just ran out like that, he doesn't trust me anymore. How can he trust me after this? Even being the kind soul he is he has his limits. He thinks all this about me seeing the future is a whole load of bullshit. He thinks I'm mental, he also thinks I'm heartless and a freak. All in one moment, everyone who I felt I could trust in this world turned their back on me. Now, Ed and Al will stay as far away from me as possible. They don't want anything to do with me. Maria and Denny are assigned to protect Ed and Al, not two kids from a foreign dimension. Once Alphonse has told his brother, the word will spread. Everyone will turn their back on me, see me as a freak. No one will help me, I will be all alone. I will walk down the dark path again, the dark path I descended towards after Mary died. Everyone I trusted have turned their back on me, I never imagined that it would ever happen. It-it hurts so much…

Instead of running after Alphonse like I should, I simply fall forward, half lying on the floor as I cry out quietly in despair. My box still hasn't opened, only a crack has been made because of this. But it will break soon, I know it. When Andrew walks out, I know I'll break down completely. He'll walk out, I know he will. He knows enough Amestrian to get the big picture of all this. I knew they had to sacrifice humans to create the stone. He must also see me as a freak, he must also hate me. How couldn't he hate me? I haven't done anything to really make him trust me so far. The only thing I've done is keep his mind away from home.

I pause in my crying when I feel a hand softly stroking my back. I look up at Andrew, the boy having a guilty and sad look on his face. He pities me, I know it, but why is he guilty? Is it because he held me still when I really wanted to run? That must be it… Although, the malice he showed me worries me a little…

"**Andrew…"** I breathe out slowly, sitting up as my tears continue to fall. I thought that I would be out of tears already, but I'm far from done. "**Why… Why are you-…?**"

Andrew flinches for some reason, looking off to the side. That look of guilt grows in his eyes but I still can't understand why he's guilty. I have a theory, but I'm afraid if it's right. It would be truly justified for him to think that way, but I don't want him to leave me too. Not after I just lost the two brothers.

I hug him tightly, pressing the side of my face into his chest. He instinctively tenses up, just like he always does when I'm hugging him. Ed, Maria and Denny do that too. Although, Andrew and Maria are the only ones who relax after a few seconds to hug me back. They are more used to hugs, it shows. I take a shuddering breath, preparing myself to ask my question and the harsh reply which will come after it.

"**Andrew… Do you… Do you hate me, Andrew?**"

The boy tenses up at my question and he clenches his hands tightly into my shirt. I smile sadly as a small thought pops into mind, my shirt sure has taken a lot of abuse today… I sit there, patiently waiting for Andrew's reply as he sorts out his thoughts. It's only justified for him to hate me. I'm not the best person in the world really. And I am the cause that he was brought into this world and ripped away from his family. He should hate me even more now that he realized what a horrible person I am for not caring about people's lives. He should hate me even more now that he has realized that I'm holding more secrets than I let on. He will answer my question and then leave me alone, just like the others did. I can't possibly believe that someone who I've only known for a few days would stay rather than someone who has known me for a few weeks. We don't know each other well enough.

"**I…**" I put my whole focus on listening to Andrew and his heartbeat as he starts to speak, noticing that the heart is beating very fast because of his nervousness. "**I'm not… really sure actually…**"

Now, it's my turn to flinch in surprise and I can't help but look up at him in astonishment. Andrew doesn't meet my gaze, but simply looks off to the side as he is still sorting out his thoughts. He… doesn't hate me…?

"**In the beginning, I hated you when I realized that it was your fault that I ended up here… But you tried so hard to make me feel better, tried so hard to make my thoughts not steer towards our home that… that I tried to convince myself that it wasn't your fault. It worked somewhat, I could actually have fun with you without thinking about how you completely destroyed my life in a single day. But there was still this small voice in the back of my mind that blamed you for everything, that still hated you. But when you promised that you would find me a way to get back home… That voice has gradually started to disappear. I still hate you, somewhat, but I've come to accept it in a way…**"

Andrew meets my gaze for a short second before looking away again. He releases me from the hug, which I totally forgot we were doing, letting his hand fall into his lap before he continues to explain.

"**When you looked so afraid to confront the brothers, I wanted you to stay so that you would feel the same kind of pain I did. It wasn't until afterwards, when you started crying again after Alphonse ran out, that I realized that you experienced the same thing as I… I wanted you to experience pain even though you experienced enough pain as it is… It felt so good to see you get yelled at but I felt really guilty when you started crying… If I hadn't held your shoulder, you would have ran away and not experience that kind of pain… And I'm… I'm really sorry. I just… I didn't think what you went through before I came here… I only saw you as cheerful and accepting person with a temper problem… I never once thought that you also lost your home that day…**"

I stare at him for a while longer, not really piecing together the information he's giving me. He hated me, but then tried to accept me… He tries to accept me even though I took away everything from him… And he-he is actually staying. And he's honest, he isn't sugar-coating it. He just tells me the plain truth. He has no idea how thankful I am for that… I'm a little hurt that he purposefully held me here so I would get yelled at and experience the pain he wanted me to feel, but he didn't lie. And that's more than I could ever ask for. He's staying and he's honest, that's more than enough. No matter how harsh the truth is, the truth is somewhat comforting in a way.

"**So… Why are you staying…?**" I ask him, my tears having stopped during his explanation. Andrew looks at me in slight surprise at my question before giving me a weak smile.

"**You're the only one I can really talk to… And I just couldn't leave you when all the others did, I'm not that heartless. Not heartless enough to abandon a friend.**"

I smile of my own appear on my face, the smile slowly growing into a grin as I register what he just called me. He has never openly said that I was his friend, and he has never accepted his little title as my sibling, but now. That is a sign that he will truly do his best to forgive me for what I did to him. How can such a good person be forced into this cruel world?

"**Yeah.**" I say softly, nodding my head while placing a hand on his shoulder. "**Because that's what friends are for.**"

Andrew stands up while I start to wipe off the tear streaks I have on my cheeks. He helps me up once I'm done and the two of us move towards the exit. But remembering something, I stop and turn around to look at the table in the far end of the room. There are my father's research notes, just like I left them a few days ago. One stack is the original book while the other stack is the real text behind the book. I slowly walk towards the table, stopping in front of the two stacks. Untouched, the two titles 'Walter's Diary' and 'Dawn is about to cry' sits in front of me. I pick up the original book, it being held together through three sets of strings holding it together. I then snap my fingers, making my water hover above the second stack.

With a determined glint in my eyes, I twitch my finger to make the water swallow up the stack of papers into the bubble and make the papers swirl inside so the ink will be unable to read. After the only things you can see on the papers are black blobs, I make currents inside the bubble to cut the paper apart. And once the paper is cut, I let the drenched pieces get tossed in the trash can. With a small nod of my head, I join Andrew at the exit of the room with a small smile. We then make our way towards the hotel room to gather our things.

If they don't want us there, if they don't trust us anymore… It's better if we're not there in the first place…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I noted that many of you reacted positively towards the pairing Andria so I'll also support that pairing now too. :3 I don't know if I've mentioned this previously but I saw this story as having no romance at all. Just small fluff here and there but she would never be in a relationship in the story. But then Andrew and Gloria started to have a _thing_ in my head… And now I'm also seeing Gloria and Edward having a slight _thing_ too… which created Edria… So yeah… A pure action fudging-up-the-story-line story will now have hints of romance in it… Who it will be in the end is for Gloria to decide. At the moment, it leans more towards Andrew since Edward left her just like that. And the romance will be very slow, I promise you. No rushing here.

**You can still vote on my Poll on which pairing you would prefer!**

So now Andrew and Gloria will leave the brothers. Is it because of a misunderstanding? I'm so excited for what will happen in three chapters… I'm so fudging excited to write about it. I hope you're excited as I am for the next chapter, now that she has left the brothers, things will really change…

Oh, and should I change which text I use when they're speaking English? **Should I continue to write it in bold**_ or should I write it in italics?_ You decide. ^^

See you later~!

(I'm sorry that this is a shorter chapter than I usually do but it just seemed like a good place to end there.)


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